প্রকাশ: 15/08/2022
A delegation of American lawmakers arrived in Taiwan on
Sunday, just 12 days after a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that
prompted China to launch days of threatening military drills around the
self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its control.
The five-member delegation, led by Democratic Sen. Ed Markey
of Massachusetts, will meet President Tsai Ing-wen and other officials, as well
as members of the private sector, to discuss shared interests including reducing
tensions in the Taiwan Strait and investments in semiconductors.
China responded to Pelosi’s Aug. 2 visit by sending
missiles, warships and warplanes into the seas and skies around Taiwan for
several days afterward. The Chinese government objects to Taiwan having any
official contact with foreign governments, particularly with a high-ranking
congressional leader like Pelosi.
A Taiwanese broadcaster showed video of a U.S. government
plane landing about 7 p.m. Sunday at Songshan Airport in Taipei, the Taiwanese
capital. Four members of the delegation were on the plane.
Markey met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier
Sunday in South Korea before arriving in Taiwan on a separate flight at Taoyuan
International Airport, which also serves Taipei. Markey, who chairs the Senate
Foreign Relations East Asia, Pacific, and International Cybersecurity
Subcommittee, and members of the delegation will reaffirm the United States’
support for Taiwan.
The other members of the delegation are Republican Rep.
Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, a delegate from American Samoa, and Democratic House
members John Garamendi and Alan Lowenthal from California and Don Beyer from
Virginia.
Chinese warplanes have continued crossing the midpoint of
the Taiwan Strait on a daily basis even after the conclusion of the military
exercises last Wednesday, with at least 10 doing so on Sunday, Taiwan’s Defense
Ministry said.
The 10 fighter jets were among 22 Chinese military aircraft
and six naval ships detected in the area around Taiwan by 5 p.m. on Sunday, the
ministry said on its Twitter account.
A senior White House official on Asia policy said late last
week that China had used Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to launch an intensified
pressure campaign against Taiwan, jeopardizing peace and stability across the
Taiwan Strait and in the broader region.
“China has overreacted, and its actions continue to be
provocative, destabilizing, and unprecedented,” Kurt Campbell, a deputy
assistant to President Joe Biden, said on a call with reporters.
“It has sought to disregard the centerline between the
P.R.C. and Taiwan, which has been respected by both sides for more than 60
years as a stabilizing feature,” he said, using the acronym for the country’s
full name, the People’s Republic of China.
China accuses the U.S. of encouraging independence forces in
Taiwan through its sale of military equipment to the island and engaging with
its officials. The U.S. says it does not support independence for Taiwan but
that its differences with China should be resolved by peaceful means.
China’s ruling Communist Party has long said that it favors
Taiwan joining China peacefully but that it will not rule out force if
necessary. The two split in 1949 during a civil war in which the Communists
took control of China and the losing Nationalists retreated to the island of
Taiwan.
Campbell, speaking on Friday, said the U.S. would send warships and planes through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks and is developing a roadmap for trade talks with Taiwan that he said the U.S. intends to announce in the coming days.
- AP/UNB
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