The new five-member delegation is visiting the self-governing island in an effort to “reaffirm the United States’ support for Taiwan” and “encourage stability and peace in the Taiwan Strait,” a Markey spokesman said in a statement.
The delegation includes Democratic delegates John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal and Don Beyer and Republican delegate Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, the statement said.
The group led by Markey will meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu during the visit, as well as hold discussions with the Taiwan Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on security issues. and trade issues, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said. .
The State Department added that it sincerely welcomed the delegation and thanked them for showing strong US support for Taiwan despite escalating tensions with Beijing.
The senator’s spokesman said the delegation will meet “elected leaders and members of the private sector to discuss shared interests, including easing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and expanding economic cooperation, including investment in semiconductors. “
China hit back at the visit, saying it would take “resolute countermeasures in response to US provocations” in a statement Sunday from the Chinese embassy in Washington.
“Members of the US Congress must act in accordance with the US government’s one-China policy,” Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said on Twitter.
Liu said China “strongly opposes any form of official ties” between the US and Taiwan, and the congressional delegation’s latest visit “proves that the US does not want to see stability in the Taiwan Strait and has spared no effort to create a confrontation between the two sides and meddling in China’s internal affairs.”
During her trip to Taiwan, Pelosi, a California Democrat, said the visit was intended to “make it unequivocally clear” that the US “wouldn’t abandon” the democratically governed island.
China responded to the speaker’s journey by launching military exercises, which, according to the Chinese defense ministry, began with exercises in both the seas and airspace around Taiwan. In addition to the exercises, Beijing has canceled future phone calls between Chinese and US defense leaders, suspended bilateral climate talks and sanctioned Pelosi and her immediate family.
The US maintains close unofficial ties with Taiwan and is legally obliged to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons. But it remains intentionally vague as to whether it would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, a policy known as “strategic ambiguity.”
This story has been updated with additional background information.
CNN’s Daniella Diaz, Jeremy Herb, Wayne Chang and Rhea Mogul contributed to this report.
