TAIPEI, Taiwan, 28 Mar: A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation pledged continued support for Taiwan on Thursday, days after Congress approved $300 million in military aid for the self-governed island that\u2019s claimed by China.
\nCongress also approved $400 million on Saturday to counter the Chinese government\u2019s influence in the region, as part of its Defense Appropriations Act.
\nChina regards Taiwan as a breakaway province to be brought under its control, by force if necessary. Beijing sends warships and fighter jets near the island daily, as it ramps up its military pressure.
\nThe United States, like most nations, doesn\u2019t recognize Taiwan as a country. However, it is bound by U.S. laws to ensure the island can defend itself and considers all threats to Taiwan as a matter of \u201cgrave concern.\u201d
\nThe delegation led by Rep. Jack Bergman, who chairs the House Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee, sought to reassure Taiwan\u2019s leadership of continued support.
\n\u201cWe will continue to assure our colleagues that the strategic relationship is key for the future security of the region,\u201d Bergman said during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
\n\u201cThis includes a strong Taiwan maritime strategy and how we can work together on shared goals to counter China on their increasingly aggressive actions in the region,\u201d the Michigan Republican said.
\nTsai thanked the Biden administration and Congress for helping to bolster Taiwan\u2019s self-defense.
\n\u201cThis support will continue to strengthen the Taiwan-U.S. partnership,\u201d she said.
\nIn Beijing, a Defense Ministry spokesperson said China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to what he called China\u2019s Taiwan region.
\n\u201cWe strongly demand that the U.S. side abide by the one-China principle, refrain from undermining China\u2019s sovereignty and security interests, and not interfere in China\u2019s internal affairs,\u201d Senior Col. Wu Qian said at a monthly briefing.
\nThe U.S. delegation also includes Democratic Reps. Donald Norcross from New Jersey and Jimmy Panetta from California. The lawmakers arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday and are to stay until Friday.
\nThey also met with Taiwanese Vice President and President-elect William Lai and with Vice President-elect Bi-khim Hsiao. Taiwan\u2019s new administration takes office on May 20.
\nChina prohibits countries it has diplomatic relations with from having formal exchanges with Taipei and regularly criticizes U.S. officials\u2019 visits to the island.
\nA trip by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in 2022 resulted in China dispatching warships and military aircraft around the island and freezing a series of exchanges, including military communications, with the U.S.
\nBeijing and Washington restored military-to-military contacts after a flurry of diplomatic exchanges in recent months culminated in a meeting between the country\u2019s presidents in San Francisco in November.
\nTaiwan has expressed concern in recent months about China\u2019s expansion of military bases near the island but says it wants to avoid an escalation in tensions with Beijing. AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 28 Mar: A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation pledged continued support for Taiwan on Thursday, days after Congress approved $300 million in military aid for the self-governed island that\u2019s claimed by China. Congress also approved $400 million on Saturday to counter the Chinese government\u2019s influence in the region, as part of its Defense Appropriations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-237875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237875\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}