A delegation of senior U.S. lawmakers reassured Taiwan on Friday of strong support as the island comes under intensifying pressure from China, dispelling doubts about Washington's commitment amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is heading the bipartisan delegation, told President Tsai Ing-wen that "to abandon Taiwan is to abandon freedom and democracy" as well as "free trade" during their meeting.
The group of six lawmakers, including Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arrived in Taiwan on Thursday. The two-day unannounced visit has triggered an angry reaction from China, which regards the self-ruled island as part of its territory to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
China carried out military drills around Taiwan on Friday, with its People's Liberation Army saying they took place because of recent "wrong signals" sent by Washington.
Tsai said Russia's invasion proved that "democracies must bolster their alliances and collectively we can defend ourselves from the threats posed by authoritarian nations that seek to disrupt regional peace."
The United States and its other partners in Asia, including Japan, believe Russia's onslaught against Ukraine, which started in late February, threatens the rules-based international order and the ramifications go far beyond Europe.
Graham said the United States may be politically divided but regarding Taiwan it is united, adding that the war in Ukraine and China's "provocative behavior" have made Washington "unlike any time I've seen in recent memory."
"So here's my promise to you and the Taiwanese people. We're going to start making China pay a greater price for what they're doing all over the world," he said.
"The support for Putin must come with a price, the never-ending cyberattacks on your economy and your people by the Communist Chinese need to come with a price," he added.
Referring to Taiwan as "a country of global significance, of global consequence, of global impact," Menendez said the visit by the group, which he described as "not just diverse" but also "high ranking," is to reaffirm the "rock solid" relations between them.
Menendez revealed that Beijing was "very unhappy" about the visit, but that it "did not dissuade us from coming, and it won't dissuade us in the future in supporting Taiwan."
In Beijing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman publicly criticized the U.S. lawmakers, saying it firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between Washington and Taipei.
China "will take effective measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the spokesman, Zhao Lijian, told reporters.
He added Taiwan is "bound to be reunified" with the mainland.
Communist-led China and democratic Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 as the result of a civil war.
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