Senior US politician calls for Taiwan’s president to be granted trip to Washington
Tsai’s high-profile transit visit certain to irk Beijing, with a call for overseas Taiwanese to return to serve the self-ruled island
A trio of pro-Taiwan US House representatives in California joined Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen during her stopover in Los Angeles with one of them calling on the US government to grant her an unprecedented visit in the US capital.
The three US House lawmakers, including Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce, the committee’s Asia and Pacific subcommittee ranking member Brad Sherman and Congresswoman Judy Chu, greeted Tsai in Los Angeles, the first transit stop during her nine-day trip to the island’s two South American allies.
Tsai arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday night in a high-profile transit visit that is certain to irk Beijing, with a call for overseas Taiwanese to return to serve the self-ruled island.
The transit marks the first stopover for the Taiwan president after the US Congress unanimously passed the Taiwan Travel Act early this year, which President Donald Trump signed into law, allowing US government officials at all levels, including cabinet-level national security officials, to travel to Taiwan and high-level officials of Taiwan to enter the US.
During his remarks, Sherman revealed that the Taiwan Travel Act was aimed at encouraging Taiwanese presidents to visit the US capital Washington.