A US congressional delegation arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, officials said, days after China held military exercises around the island in response to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The unannounced Sunday visit came after Pelosi angered Beijing by visiting Taiwan earlier this month, prompting China to conduct unprecedented air and sea maneuvers that raised the possibility of conflict.
China also reacted angrily to the visit, as the Xinhua News Agency published an article titled “US Politicians Must Stop Playing with Fire on the Taiwan Issue.”
A five-member delegation led by Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey will meet with Secretary of State Joseph Wu, the Taiwanese ministry said.
The American Institute Taiwan said in a statement that the delegation will discuss “U.S.-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains, climate change, and other important issues of common interest.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised the delegation’s visit as further evidence of warming relations between Taipei and Washington.
In a statement on Sunday, she expressed a “warm welcome” to the delegation.
“At a time when China continues to escalate tensions in the region, the US Congress again organized a high-level delegation visit to Taiwan, which reflects a friendship that is not afraid of Chinese threats and intimidation, and underlines the firm position of the United States. Taiwan’s support,” she said.
The delegation also includes Democrats John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal and Don Pierre, as well as Republican Omua Amata Coleman Redwagen, according to the institute.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and is committed to rebuilding it, albeit by force. Within a week of Pelosi’s visit, Beijing deployed warships, missiles and aircraft into the waters and airspace around the island.
In Sunday’s article about the delegation’s visit, the New China News Agency called US lawmakers mere opportunists as they ruminate on their own political interests as the November midterm elections approach.
“Those politicians who are playing with fire on the Taiwan issue should give up their desires,” the agency said.
“There is no room for compromise or concessions when it comes to China’s core interests,” she said.
Beijing strongly condemned the visit of Pelosi, who was the highest-ranking elected US official to visit Taiwan in decades.
Taiwan has accused China of using the visit as an excuse to maneuver to rehearse an invasion.
In turn, he conducted maneuvers simulating self-defense in the face of a Chinese invasion of his main island. At the end of the exercise, China said it would continue to patrol the Taiwan Strait.
And Taiwan’s defense ministry announced on Sunday that it had detected 22 Chinese aircraft and six ships operating in the Taiwan Strait.
Eleven of these planes crossed the center line, which is an unofficial demarcation line between Taiwan and China that Beijing does not recognize.
China vowed earlier this week that it would never tolerate any “separatist actions” in Taiwan and reaffirmed its threat to seize the self-ruled island by force if provoked.
“We are ready to create a wide space for peaceful reunification, but we will leave no room for any secessionist activities of any kind,” the Taiwan Affairs Office of China said in a white paper on Wednesday.
He added that China “will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the opportunity to take all necessary measures.”
But he made it clear: “We will not be forced to take decisive action in response to provocations by separatist elements or outside forces unless our red lines are crossed.”
China released its last “white paper” (i.e., complex file manual) on Taiwan in 2000.
