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U.S. Lawmakers Visit Taiwan and Vow Support in Face of Chinese Military Drills

A bipartisan delegation promised to stand by the island’s newly elected president, Lai Ching-te, after Beijing surrounded the self-governing island with naval vessels and aircraft.

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By Catie Edmondson

Reporting from Taipei, Taiwan

After China performed two days of military drills intended to punish Taiwan, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas on Monday stood alongside the island nation’s newly elected president, Lai Ching-te, and issued a promise.

“The United States must maintain the capacity to resist any resort to force or coercion that would jeopardize the security of the people of Taiwan,” Mr. McCaul, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said. “That is what we stand for, and that is what we continue to say.”

Mr. McCaul, a Republican, traveled this week to Taipei with a bipartisan delegation of other American lawmakers in an attempt, he said, to show that the U.S. government stood in lock step with Mr. Lai and Taiwan.

The trip, which will last through the week, comes at a fraught time: Just days after Mr. Lai was sworn into office and vowed in his inaugural address to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty, China responded by surrounding the self-governing island with naval vessels and military aircraft. Before the lawmakers arrived, the Chinese government had publicly warned them to “seriously abide by the one-China policy” and “not to schedule any congressional visit to Taiwan.”

Just a few days ago, China “conducted two days of military drills in the Taiwan Strait to express their displeasure with President Lai,” Lin Chia-lung, Taiwan’s foreign minister, told Mr. McCaul at a news conference on Monday.

“You can say in this critical time, it is a powerful display,” Mr. Lin added.

Even as many Republicans in Congress balked at providing continued U.S. military aid to Ukraine, support for Taiwan has remained a largely bipartisan endeavor. A number of conservatives have argued that the United States should pull back its investments in Ukraine and instead bolster deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region. In April, the House voted to approve $8 billion for Taiwan in a lopsided 385-to-34 vote.

“Even though there are debates about other theaters of war,” Mr. McCaul said, “I can tell you there is no division or no dissension when it comes to Taiwan in the Congress.”

But deep challenges remain. Even though there are few political hurdles to approving fresh tranches of aid for Taiwan, the backlog of undelivered orders of arms and military equipment to the island from the United States has grown to nearly $20 billion. Some weapons systems that Washington approved for Taiwan in 2020 have yet to be sent.

By far, the biggest part of the undelivered inventory is an order approved by the Trump administration in 2019 for 66 F-16 fighter jets, which makes up over 40 percent of the backlog, according to Eric Gomez, a researcher at the Cato Institute in Washington who, with a co-researcher, has compiled a running estimate of the delays . Other items that Taiwan is waiting for include a Harpoon coastal defense system, mobile rocket launchers called HIMARS and Abrams tanks.

The additional $8 billion of military spending support for Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region approved by Congress would not make a big dent in the backlog, Mr. Gomez said. That amount includes $1.9 billion to enable the Pentagon to release weapons to send to Taiwan from U.S. stockpiles, with the money then used to replenish the American inventory. But the United States “does not have the capability in its stockpile to send” those, Mr. Gomez said.

And there are quietly growing fears among supporters of Taiwan that Western allies, chief among them the United States, will become bogged down in other intractable conflicts — in Ukraine and the Middle East — that will further erode their capacity to send arms.

“People in Taiwan look at what happened in Hong Kong, they look at Afghanistan, they look at Putin,” Mr. McCaul said in an interview. “They’re worried that this is going to be the next shoe to drop, and they should be.”

“I don’t want anyone to think that we can’t support Taiwan because of Ukraine,” he added. “The stuff going to Ukraine is old and it’s old NATO stuff; this is all brand-new for Taiwan. But I just think our defense industrial base is overloaded right now, and it cannot handle this amount of conflict in the world.”

Mr. Lai, in remarks delivered at the Office of the President, alluded to the critical role that the United States had played in assisting the Taiwanese people’s “determination to defend their homeland.” He praised former President Ronald Reagan — a favorite among conservatives, and especially with Speaker Mike Johnson, who frequently quotes him — for his “concept of peace through strength.”

“With your support, I hope that Congress through legislative action will continue to assist Taiwan,” Mr. Lai said.

The aim of the delegation’s visit, Mr. McCaul said, was to show lawmakers’ commitment to do just that. He said he was heartened by how little backlash he and other Republicans had received after Congress moved to pass the enormous aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

“You can see the impact that vote has here,” Mr. McCaul said. “It has real-life consequences; it’s not some political game on the floor. It has real consequences here, it has real consequences in Ukraine.”

The visiting delegation includes Mr. McCaul and Representatives Young Kim, Republican of California; Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina; Jimmy Panetta, Democrat of California; Andy Barr, Republican of Kentucky; and Chrissy Houlahan, Democrat of Pennsylvania.

Christopher Buckley contributed reporting.

Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times. More about Catie Edmondson

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U.S. lawmakers meet with Taiwan's president in a surprise visit

The Associated Press

Republican Nancy Mace is one of five U.S. lawmakers on a one-day surprise visit to Taiwan, the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy, announced. Mic Smith/AP hide caption

Republican Nancy Mace is one of five U.S. lawmakers on a one-day surprise visit to Taiwan, the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy, announced.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Five U.S. lawmakers met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen Friday morning in a surprise one-day visit intended to reaffirm the United States' "rock solid" support for the self-governing island.

The bi-partisan group of lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives arrived in Taiwan on Thursday night and were planning to meet with senior leaders including Tsai, said the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy. No further details were provided about their itinerary.

The visit comes as tensions between Taiwan and China have risen to their highest level in decades. Taiwan has been self-ruled since the two sides split during a civil war in 1949, but China considers the island part of its own territory.

"When news of our trip broke yesterday, my office received a blunt message from the Chinese Embassy, telling me to call off the trip," Representative Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who is part of the delegation, wrote on Twitter.

Representatives Mark Takano, D-Calif., Colin Allred, D-Texas., Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., are also part of the visiting delegation.

"We are here in Taiwan this week to remind our partners and allies, after two trying years that we've endured, that our commitment and shared responsibility for a free and secure Indo-Pacific region remain stronger than ever," said Takano.

Takano added that the U.S. relationship with Taiwan is "rock solid and has remained steadfast as the ties between us have deepened."

Tsai, who welcomed the lawmakers and the AIT director at the Presidential Office in Taipei, noted the two sides' cooperation in veterans' affairs, economic issues and trade while reiterating the island's close alignment with the U.S.

"Taiwan will continue to step up cooperation with the United States in order to uphold our shared values of freedom and democracy and to ensure peace and stability in the region," Tsai said.

The visit is the third by U.S. lawmakers to Taiwan this year and comes just a few weeks after a group of six Republican members of Congress visited the island. That delegation met with President Tsai, National Security Secretary General Wellington Koo and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, among others.

In June, three members of Congress flew to Taiwan to donate badly needed vaccines at a time when the island was struggling to get enough.

The Biden administration has also invited Taiwan to a Summit for Democracy next month, a move that drew a sharp rebuke from China.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday, "What the U.S. did proves that the so-called democracy is just a pretext and tool for it to pursue geopolitical goals, suppress other countries, divide the world, serve its own interest and maintain its hegemony in the world."

McCarthy to meet with Taiwanese president in visit China calls a 'provocation'

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will meet Wednesday with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in a summit that China called a "provocation."

McCarthy's office announced Monday that the House leader will host a bipartisan meeting with Tsai at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. McCarthy's announcement did not specify which other members of Congress will attend the meeting. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the minority leader of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Friday that other Republicans could join the meeting, including Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who heads a House select committee on China.

Taiwan is a self-governing island democracy that China claims as its territory. Speaking before her departure last week, Tsai said her government would "neither yield nor provoke." But ahead of Tsai’s trip to America, the Chinese government said a meeting with McCarthy would be a " provocation " and threatened retaliation.

U.S. officials, by contrast, claim visits and meetings with high-level Taiwanese officials are routine. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week that Tsai met with U.S. officials and held public appearances in "all previous transits."

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the top Democrat in the House, quietly met Thursday with Tsai in New York . A spokesperson for Jeffries declined to comment on the meeting.

Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., a longtime China hawk, visited Taiwan last August , prompting China to respond by launching live-fire military exercises .

Taiwan said last week there was no indication of changes to China’s usual military deployment in the area, which has included  sending warplanes toward the island  almost daily.

Yale professor Arne Westad, an expert in Chinese history, said he expects a “relatively strong reaction” from Beijing. Relations between the U.S. and China, the world’s strongest superpowers, are the worst they’ve been in the last 40 years, he added.

Westad said that he thought the U.S. should support Taiwan's "safety and viability" but questioned whether provoking China was the best path forward.

“I think the United States has a definite interest, as do many other countries, in making sure that Taiwan is more secure and also, for that matter, better able to defend itself against a potential PRC attack," Westad said, referring to China's official name, the People's Republic of China. "But I’m not convinced that having meetings that would be seen as highly provocative by the PRC side at this point is the right way forward.”

Westad said he feared that provocations would make it less likely the U.S. and China could maintain peace if a crisis brings them closer to war. “There is a solution, and that solution is status quo," he said. "It’s not an ideal solution, but it’s the only solution that has the potential in it of avoiding war on Taiwan.”

Rose Horowitch is an intern with NBC News Digital Politics. 

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Keith krach-led us-taiwan business council delegation focused on trusted tech and securing semiconductors.

US Tech Leaders Met with President Lai, Vice President Hsiao; Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue Chair Delivered Keynote at SEMICON Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan, September 10, 2024 --( BUSINESS WIRE )--The US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) delegation, headed by former Under Secretary of State and USTBC Chairman Keith Krach and President Rupert Hammond-Chambers, concluded its mission to Taiwan focused on securing a trusted semiconductor supply chain. The visit was punctuated by Krach’s keynote remarks at SEMICON Taiwan, the premier global microelectronics event.

The USTBC delegation, comprising executives from some of the most important tech companies in the world, including Google, IBM, AWS, Dolby, Applied Materials, Synopsys, TSMC, and others, began the week-long visit with a trip to the semiconductor cluster in Southern Taiwan. The group was addressed by Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chi-mei and met with local tech entrepreneurs and academics from the National Sun Yat-sen University.

Over the following couple of days, the delegation was briefed by the team at the American Institute in Taiwan, headed by Director Raymond Greene, and engaged in substantive discussions with Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, Premier Cho Jung-tai, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung, Economic Minister Kuo Jyh-huei, President of the Legislative Yuan Han Kuo-yu, along with legislators representing all political Parties. The "trust" theme was echoed in every meeting and there was broad agreement on the importance of the innovation and adoption of trusted technologies.

"Taiwan is not only business-friendly but a trusted friend of the United States," said Keith Krach during his remarks at SEMICON Taiwan. "A vibrant Taiwan strengthens the entire free world, and without a free Taiwan, the forces of authoritarianism endanger freedom everywhere."

Krach emphasized the enduring trust between the US and Taiwan, stemming in part from his 2020 visit to the island as the highest-ranking American diplomat in 41 years. Krach’s economic diplomacy ushered in the current era of unparalleled US-Taiwan ties, leading to the onshoring of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to the United States, which paved the way for the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act and more than $450 billion of new private-sector investment in US semiconductor manufacturing, Taiwan’s entry into the Clean Network , the Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, the US-Taiwan Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement, and the ongoing US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade.

To further strengthen the ties, the Krach Institute established the Taiwan Center for Innovation and Prosperity to enhance Taiwan’s prosperity, international standing, and sovereignty by offering technological expertise and diplomatic reinforcement. The Center bridges US investment, talent, and expertise through its expansive private sector network.

"The US-Taiwan Business Council’s inaugural delegation, led by our new chairman Keith Krach, was a huge success," said USTBC President Rupert Hammond-Chambers. "We met with Taiwan’s leadership, leading technology companies and advanced a number of important initiatives. We’re thrilled to be working with SEMI during SEMICON Taiwan 2024 and look forward to more cooperation at next year’s event."

About the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue

The Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue is the world’s preeminent nonprofit trusted technology accelerator. As the leader of the new category called Tech Diplomacy, the Institute is focused on driving outcomes in three core areas: the creation of action-oriented strategies and solutions that will help advance principles of trusted tech at a global scale; the growth of the Global Trusted Tech Network of individuals and organizations who support the fight against techno-authoritarianism; the creation of education and training to increase the widespread practice of Tech Diplomacy.

Visit the Krach Institute online at TechDiplomacy.org and follow us on X , Facebook , LinkedIn and YouTube .

Subscribe to the Institute’s weekly newsletter Tech Diplomacy Now for the latest news at the intersection of high tech and foreign policy.

About the Taiwan Center for Innovation and Prosperity

The Taiwan Center for Innovation and Prosperity aims to strengthen the technological and diplomatic capabilities of Taiwan and the US by: (1) delivering access to best-in-class STEM talent, especially in advanced manufacturing, AI, and electric vehicles; (2) providing unique Tech Diplomacy expertise that integrates Silicon Valley strategies with foreign policy tools; (3) building a network of networks for industry and government collaboration; (4) facilitating the path to commercialization from research to application and business creation; and (5) strengthening research and development in secure microelectronics, hypersonics, and other emerging technologies.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240910689779/en/

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Megan Stencel at [email protected] or 703-490-8845