US lawmakers arrive in Taiwan to meet Tsai Ing-wen on surprise visit

Name: Don’t ‘play with fire’: Mainland China tells US for inviting Taiwan to democracy summit
Uploaded: 2021-11-25T17:25:52.000Z
Duration: 1 min 16 s
Description: Don’t ‘play with fire’: Mainland China tells US for inviting Taiwan to democracy summit

Delegation led by Democrat Mark Takano includes three others from his party and one Republican

Latest visit by US lawmakers comes just two weeks after a delegation of Republican lawmakers visited the self-ruled island

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Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (C) inspects an algae reef zone at the coast of the Guanyin district in Taoyuan on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Lawrence Chung

Published: 1:25am, 26 Nov 2021Updated: 7:13am, 26 Nov 2021

Just two weeks after a US congressional delegation made a surprise visit to Taiwan, another group of US lawmakers arrived on the self-ruled island for a two-day trip that is certain to rile Beijing.

The 17-member group – led by House Representative Mark Takano, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans and a California Democrat – landed at Taipei’s Songshan Airport on a US military C40-C transport plane late Thursday night.

The visit came just days after US President Joe Biden and his mainland Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held more than three hours of virtual talks, where the status of Taiwan was a contentious point of discussion.

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Don’t ‘play with fire’: Mainland China tells US for inviting Taiwan to democracy summit

The group comprised five members of the House of Representatives and their aides, who were expected to meet Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and other government leaders, including defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng, Taiwanese officials said on Thursday.

The American Institute in Taiwan – the US de facto embassy in Taipei – announced late in the evening that the group would stay in Taiwan through Friday for a trip that was “part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region”.

“The congressional delegation will meet with senior Taiwan leaders to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security and other significant issues of mutual interest,” the AIT said.

Other representatives include Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat from Michigan, who recently issued a warning along with dozens of other US lawmakers about America’s vulnerability to semiconductor supply chain constraints.

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