Six US senators visited Taiwan on Thursday in a show of support for the island that drew a rebuke from Beijing, which warned Washington it was going down a “dangerous path.” The delegation was led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and also included Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Senator Graham and the other heavyweight members of the US Congress will definitely strengthen the close friendship between Taiwan and the United States, and further deepen the global partnership between the two sides in various fields,” Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
According to The South China Morning Post, the delegation is expected to leave Taiwan on Friday evening after a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. The other lawmakers in the group are Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Ben Sasse (R- NE), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), and House Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas).
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denounced the visit at a press briefing. “China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region. Members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US government’s one-China policy,” he said.
Zhao said the US should “stop official exchanges with Taiwan and avoid going further down the dangerous path.” In 1979, Washington severed formal relations with Taipei as part of its normalization agreement with Beijing. But in recent years, the US has been increasing its informal relationship with Taiwan by sending high-level officials to the island and taking other steps to boost cooperation.
The US has sold weapons to Taiwan since the diplomatic shift, but there have been growing calls in Congress for Washington to provide more military support for the island. Last week, Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a bill that would expedite arms sales to Taiwan by eliminating some bureaucratic roadblocks. Some ultra-hawks in Congress are even ready to hand President Biden war powers to fight China if it invades Taiwan.
Sound familiar? We fed Ukraine weapons, training, resources. Ukraine leader campaigns on peace, then switched the flip and became all in on animosity toward Russia, accepting those weapons, keeping up the bombardment of Russian speaking citizens in the Donbas.
We now feed weapons, training, resources to Taiwan. What could go wrong?
Yes, and soon to hear MSM pundits lucubrating on the ‘Chinese Hitler’ and genocide of Uighurs.
Perhaps China delegation should visit the islands of Hawaii to talk about their support of islanders to be an independent country
Do the Hawaiians wish to secceed?
I am amazed at how multifaceted the US is, WE are managing to piss off just about everybody!!!
These hawks should volunteer themselves and their children to defend a Chinese speaking island with ethnic Chinese people against…the Chinese. Nevermind the One China policy that has kept peace for 50 years.
Nothing like provoking Russia and China at the same time. Nothing is ever enough for these hawks…
Perhaps the people in Taiwan, like those in HongKong, simply do not wish to live in an authoriterean state.