Sawt Falasteen - Senior US lawmaker to attend Taiwan presidential inauguration

Representative Mike McCaul, who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke alongside Taiwan's representative in Washington and lawmakers from both parties at an event in the US Capitol marking 45 years since a landmark law to support Taiwan.

"I'll be leading a delegation to Taiwan to celebrate the president's inauguration," McCaul said, set to take place on May 20.

McCaul last visited Taiwan in April 2023 to meet President Tsai Ing-wen. China responded with a show of military force and later imposed sanctions on McCaul, a Republican from Texas.

"The last time I visited Taiwan, I was greeted very warmly by President Tsai but not so warmly by the CCP," McCaul said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

"It's an illustration in terms of the aggression that we're seeing out of China right now," he said.

China claims Taiwan, where the mainland's defeated nationalists fled in 1949. It has since grown into a vibrant democracy and leading high-tech economy, though Beijing has not ruled out using force to "reunify" the two.

China has voiced anger at any hints of independence for Taiwan. It staged a massive show of force in 2022 and cut off areas of cooperation with the United States after a visit by then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was also present at Wednesday's event.

US-China relations have stabilized since then, with President Xi Jinping visiting California in November following a visit to Beijing by top US officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

China has previously lashed out at President-elect Lai, who is Tsai's vice president and has historically emphasized Taiwan's separate identity.

But US officials were cautiously upbeat about containing tensions over Taiwan's January election, saying that Beijing's actions have not broken any past precedents.

US President Joe Biden sent an "unofficial" delegation of two former senior officials to Taiwan to meet Lai after his election.

Z.AbuSaud--SF-PST