Yet another US lawmaker group heading for Taiwan

A group of seven US lawmakers is set to visit Taiwan on February 21 and meet with the island’s new top leaders, fueling Taiwan Strait political tensions.

Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on Competition with the Chinese Communist Party and a Republican lawmaker, will lead a delegation to visit Taipei in a show of support for Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te ahead of his inauguration in May.

The delegation will also meet during the visit with Han Kuo-yu, a Kuomintang lawmaker who is the new president of the Legislative Yuan.

Wang Liang-yu, a spokesperson of Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, said the Taiwanese government cannot provide more information but it welcomes US lawmakers and people from different sectors to visit Taiwan and show support to the island.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet commented on the US legislators’ Taiwan trip due to the Chinese New Year holidays this week.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Washington, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that Beijing “firmly opposes the US having any form of official interaction with Taiwan and interfering in Taiwan affairs in any way or under any pretext.”

On February 13, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had detected 14 Chinese fighter jets operating in the Taiwan Strait, nine of which had crossed the median line at points to the northern and southeastern airspace of Taiwan. It said the Chinese warplanes were carrying out “joint combat readiness patrols” with their warships.

Beijing expressed strong opposition when the two co-chairs of the US Congressional Taiwan Caucus, Representatives Ami Bera, a Democrat from California, and Mario Díaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida, visited Taiwan in late