Senator Marsha Blackburn, the latest US lawmaker to visit Taiwan, met President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday amid the rising tensions with China.
Blackburn arrived in Taiwan on Thursday after a series of high-level visits of US officials that set off military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.
“Thank you, @iingwen, for your strong leadership in standing up against the Chinese Communist Party. The United States supports Taiwan and its freedom-loving people,” Senator Blackburn tweeted.
After she landed in Taipei, Blackburn applauded US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan alongside 25 other Republican senators.
She said that Taiwan is the strongest partner of the US in the Indo-Pacific Region. “Regular high-level visits to Taipei are long-standing US policy,” Blackburn said, adding that she will not be bullied by China into turning her back on the island. Blackburn arrived in Taiwan after stops in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
She was received by the director-general for North American affairs in Taiwan’s foreign ministry, Douglas Hsu at the airport, The Hill reported.
This latest visit comes in the backdrop of the US House Speaker’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month. This trip was the highest-ranking US official to visit the island in 25 years.
