A US senator arrives in Taiwan defying Beijing

A lawmaker from the US Senate Commerce and Armed Services Committees arrived in Taiwan on Thursday, the third visit by a US dignitary this month, defying pressure from Beijing to suspend these trips.

Senator Marsha Blackburn arrived in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, aboard a US military plane, live television footage from the central Songshan airport showed. She was greeted on the tarmac by Douglas Hsu, director general of Taiwan’s foreign ministry, Blackburn’s office said.

“Taiwan is our strongest partner in the Indo-Pacific region. Regular high-level visits to Taipei are longstanding US policy,” Blackburn said in a statement. “I will not be intimidated by Communist China into turning my back on the island.”

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory despite strong objections from Taipei’s democratically elected government, held military exercises near the island after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid a visit. at the beginning of August.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said Blackburn was scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen on her trip, which ends on Saturday, as well as with Top Security Officer Wellington Koo and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. .

“The two sides will extensively exchange views on issues such as the security of Taiwan and the United States and economic and trade relations,” the ministry added in a brief statement.

Blackburn, a Republican senator from Tennessee, had earlier expressed her support for the trip by Pelosi, a member of President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party.

Pelosi’s visit angered China, which responded by test-firing ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time and abandoning some lines of dialogue with Washington.

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