TAIPEI – A former US Senator and two former US Secretaries of State have arrived in Taiwan and are leading the first unofficial delegation sent out by President Biden amid heightened tensions with Beijing over the future of the self-governing island.
Christopher J. Dodd, a former Democratic senator from Connecticut, and former State Department senior officials Richard Armitage and James Steinberg landed in Taipei local time on Wednesday afternoon, Taiwan’s State Department said.
During their three-day stay, the US delegation will dine with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the Secretary of State and discuss bilateral relations, the Taiwan side said. Taiwan’s state-run Central News Agency reported on Wednesday that Taiwanese officials would inform the US delegation of China’s recent provocations against the island and across the region, calling for more support from Washington on trade, security and economic matters.
The senior US delegation arrived in Taiwan hours before John Kerry, the special climate envoy of the Biden administration, visited Shanghai to discuss cooperation with Beijing on climate issues. Mr Kerry said in an interview that Washington’s pursuit of climate cooperation with China would not mean compromising on other points of contention with Beijing, a list that also includes Taiwan.
Visits to Taiwan by senior figures of the US government, even former officials, are hypersensitive to Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of Chinese territory and has become increasingly aggressive in its attitude towards the island.