Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), the hawkish head of the House’s China committee, will lead a congressional delegation to Taiwan later this month in a move that’s sure to anger China, Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The visit is meant as a show of support for Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s vice president, who won elections in January and will be sworn in as president in May. Lai, of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has been denounced by Beijing as a “dangerous separatist” and is expected to continue moving Taiwan closer to the US.
Gallagher’s delegation is also expected to meet with Han Kuo-yu of the opposition Kuomintang party, who secured the speaker position in Taiwan’s parliament. Since the Kuomintang is more friendly toward Beijing and seeks to reduce tensions across the Taiwan Strait, Han’s speakership could make it more difficult for the DPP to pursue its policies.
The Financial Times report said Gallagher will arrive in Taiwan on February 21. Analysts told The South China Morning Post that China will likely respond to Gallagher’s trip and meeting with Lai but is not expected to launch major military exercises in response, as Beijing did when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August 2022.
House lawmakers have already visited Taiwan since the island held elections and met with Lai to congratulate him. A delegation led by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) made the trip in January.
The House’s China committee was formed last year to push more aggressive policies toward Beijing. Under Gallagher’s leadership, the panel has called to significantly increase support for Taiwan. Gallagher recently announced he will not be seeking re-election, but Congress is full of China hawks willing to fill his role on the committee.
The US recently began providing Taiwan with military aid, a step that goes beyond the arms sales that have been the norm since Washington severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979. Gallagher has said the US must arm Taiwan “to the teeth” in the name of deterrence, but the policies have only increased tensions in the region and are making war much more likely.
Wash. continues to stir up trouble in the Middle East, Eurasia and East Asia hoping for that first shot as an excuse to start WWIII and finalize the New World Order, which is really the New World Disorder and nuclear destruction. Isn’t it ironic that in ‘1984’ the opponent of Oceania is Eurasia? Seems ‘1984’ is the policy manual of the NWO.
This is the same move they pulled in Ukraine against Russia. Hoping for an aggressive move by China, for unlimited spending on the new boogeyman.
China has stated it won`t be lead into a trap by the yanks over Taiwan , the Chinese culture is 5,000 years plus old they will play the waiting game and wait for the yanks to fall into their own trap.
Good, the longer China waits, the longer Taiwan keeps its freedom. Eventually there will be new leaders in China who will realizes that Taiwan has not been part of China since 1895 and it is time to move on.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), the hawkish head of the House’s China committee!
Who is funding this A$$? More NEOCON war at any price!