US Congressional delegation arrives in Taiwan on 5-day visit

Beijing, Jul 3 (EFE).- A delegation of United States congressmen headed by the chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), Kevin Hern, arrived in Taiwan on a five-day visit, during which they will meet the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen.

The group, which represents about 150 conservatives in the US lower house, also plans to meet with Vice President Lai Ching-te and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s CNA agency reported Monday.

US officials have made regular visits to Taiwan over the past two years, even after a crisis between Beijing and Washington caused by a trip to Taipei in August last year by then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, which infuriated China.

China again lodged stern protests earlier this year when the Taiwanese president met in Los Angeles with Pelosi’s successor, Kevin McCarthy, and carried out other diplomatic activities during a stopover in the US, following a tour of Central America.

The self-governed island is also one of the main reasons for friction between China and the US, which is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and is expected to defend it in case of conflict.

China claims the sovereignty of Taiwan, a territory it considers a “rebel province” since the Kuomintang nationalists retreated there in 1949 after losing the war against the communist army. EFE

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