A US congressional delegation arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, shortly after extensive Chinese military maneuvers around the island sparked by a visit by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
The unannounced five-person visit is scheduled to last until Monday, according to the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy on the island.
It comes a few days after the end of the most important military maneuvers ever carried out by Beijing around Taiwan, in response to a visit by the speaker of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, which had infuriated China.
Taipei has accused China of using Ms Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to practice an invasion. In response, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the region.
The American parliamentarians – a senator and four representatives, Democrats and a Republican – will notably meet President Tsai Ing-wen and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They will discuss “US-Taiwan relations, regional security issues, trade and investment, climate change,” the US Institute said in a statement.
Taiwan’s foreign minister welcomed the visit in a statement: “As China continues to escalate tensions in the region, the US Congress has again sent a high-level delegation to Taiwan, demonstrating a friendship that is not afraid of China’s threats and underscores the United States’ strong support for Taiwan.”
Members of the delegation are Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Representatives Alan Lowenthal (California, Democrat), John Garamendi (California, Democrat), Don Beyer (Virginia, Democrat) and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (Samoa, Republican), a specified the American Institute.
China considers Taiwan, with a population of around 23 million, to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War ( 1949).
White paper and red lines
Opposed to any initiative giving the Taiwanese authorities international legitimacy, Beijing is against any official contact between Taiwan and other countries.
US officials visit the island frequently, but China had deemed the visit of Ms Pelosi, the highest US official to visit the island in decades, to be a major provocation.
Faced with the maneuvers launched by Beijing in retaliation, Taiwan had organized its own exercises simulating the organization of its defense against a Chinese invasion.
Beijing only ended its drills after it reiterated its threats to Taipei and said it would continue to patrol the Taiwan Strait.
In its daily update, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that it had detected 22 planes and six Chinese ships operating near the strait. 11 of the planes crossed the middle line, an unofficial demarcation between Taiwan and China that Beijing does not recognize.
The Taiwan Affairs Bureau, a Chinese government agency, released a “White Paper” on Wednesday detailing how Beijing plans to take over the island, including through economic incentives.
“We are willing to create a broad space (of cooperation) in order to achieve peaceful reunification,” the document said. “But we will leave no leeway for separatist actions aimed at pseudo-independence for Taiwan.”
“Force would be used as a last resort, in compelling circumstances. We would be forced to take drastic measures in the face of provocations by separatists or external forces, should they cross our red lines,” the White Paper adds.
The last White Paper on Taiwan published by China dates back to 2000.
Washington responded on Friday by announcing a strengthening of its trade relations with Taiwan and new air and sea crossings in the strait, in response to China’s “provocative” actions.