Congressional delegation slams Chinese ‘intimidation’ tactics after touching down in Taiwan
Jerry Dunleavy
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Congressional leaders have slammed Chinese “intimidation” attempts from the Chinese government after arriving in Taiwan.
A congressional delegation traveled to Taiwan to meet with the democratic island nation’s leaders in defiance of “intimidation” and warnings against the trip by the Chinese government, as Beijing condemned the Taiwanese president’s own visit to the United States. The eight bipartisan House members were led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and they landed at Songshan International Airport on Thursday morning ahead of multiple days of meetings with Taiwan’s leaders.
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“We’ve experienced on this delegation intimidation — this is what they do,” McCaul said of China’s bullying efforts during remarks with Taiwan Vice President William Lai on Thursday. “And we are not going to be deterred by this intimidation. If Communist China decides to start blocking the Taiwan Straits, that is an act of aggression, and I believe it’s not sustainable or acceptable.”
McCaul told Taiwan’s vice president that “we stand here today not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans in strong support of Taiwan.” Typical protocol would have been for the House members to first meet with Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen, but she was traveling in the U.S., including a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and more than a dozen other congressmen at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. McCaul and his delegation will meet with her when she returns to Taiwan later this week.
The trip happened in spite of China’s embassy in the U.S. sending members of the delegation emails about China’s “firm opposition” to the trip, telling the House members to “stop all forms of official interaction with Taiwan” and warning against crossing Beijing’s “red line.”
Counselor Li Xiang of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. sent warning letters to at least two House members whom China had expected to be on the trip to Taiwan — Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, who attended, and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), who joined the CODEL in Japan and South Korea this week but who was not scheduled to continue to Taiwan after having traveled there last year.
“This is the second time that I’ve received some hate mail from the Chinese government imploring us to not visit — and not only to not visit, but to cut off all official interaction with the government of Taiwan,” Waltz told the Washington Examiner just outside the DMZ on Wednesday. “The first letter I received strongly implied some negative implications for Florida’s economy. It was a really threatening note — it’s pretty incredible that they have the gall to send it from the Chinese Embassy in the United States.”
“It’s the typical wolf-warrior diplomacy. One can only imagine what they do to their neighbors in the region if they dare to have any type of interaction with Taiwan or really anything that the PRC doesn’t like. So imagine the world under their thumb.”
McCaul and Young were joined on the Taiwan trip by Reps. French Hill (R-AR), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Michael Lawler (R-NY), and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), as well as by Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, and by Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA).
McCaul said the goal of the Taiwan trip is to meet with Taiwanese business leaders and elected officials “to discuss ways the U.S. can strengthen our economic and defense relationship with Taiwan in the face of growing threats in the region.”
Lai told McCaul and the other members on Thursday during remarks at the Taiwanese presidential building that “as tension escalates across the Taiwan Strait, you are demonstrating solid support for Taiwan through action.” He also thanked the U.S. for its “warm hospitality” toward Tsai during her U.S. visit and personally thanked McCarthy and the others as well. He added: “This gesture demonstrates the U.S.’s solid support for Taiwan. It also tells the international community that the democratic world is determined to safeguard world peace, and it will not let authoritarianism defeat any country.”
It comes after Tsai said Wednesday during brief remarks alongside McCarthy that the “presence and unwavering support” of the U.S. Congress “reassured the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated and we are not alone.” She added: “To preserve peace, we must be strong. I would like to add that we are stronger when we are together.”
“I believe that our bond is stronger now than at any time or point in my lifetime,” McCarthy said. “The friendship between the people of America and Taiwan is a matter of profound importance to the free world.”
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The Chinese government responded to Tsai’s trip to the U.S. and to her meeting with McCarthy by ramping up its rhetoric and conducting increased military activity off the coast of Taiwan.
The Chinese state-run Global Times said Wednesday that the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command “vowed to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, with multiple land, naval, air exercises focusing on amphibious landing missions underway.” The outlet added Thursday that a “Chinese flotilla” was “holding a joint patrol and special inspection operation in the central and northern parts of the Taiwan Straits.”