A bipartisan delegation from the United States Congress reaffirmed support for Taiwan during a visit Thursday following its election of a new president. The delegation’s visit is the first by U.S. lawmakers to the island since the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party won a third-straight term in the Jan. 13 election.
China, America’s chief competitor for global influence, claims Taiwan as its own territory and threatens to use force to bring the self-governed island under its control. Beijing strongly condemned Lai Ching-te’s election and appears set to continue its policy of refusing to engage with the island’s government — a practice that’s been in place since outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen’s election in 2016.
“The support of the United States for Taiwan is firm. It’s real, and it is 100% bipartisan,” U.S. Representative Mario Díaz Balart said.
Balart, a Florida Republican, was joined by California Democrat Ami Bera. “In the 21st century, there’s no place for aggressive action. We have to learn to live together, to trade together, to work together, to solve problems together,” Bera said.
There’s a good reason for that. It’s a de facto sovereign nation and the lack of acknowledgement cools the temperature in Beijing. There would be wide bipartisan support for protecting Taiwan, as opposed to Ukraine because a significant portion of Republicans and tankies like Russia for two very, very different reasons
Very different. One is a group of blood thirsty authoritarian malcontents who reject modernity and-
Hang on, er…