World News | Martha Blackburn becomes latest US lawmaker to visit Taiwan, ignoring Beijing

Taipei [Taiwan]Aug. 26 (ANI): U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn is the latest U.S. lawmaker to visit the self-governing island of Taiwan on Thursday, after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other U.S. officials A series of visits have heightened tensions with China.

She praised U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a recent visit to Taiwan along with 25 other Republican senators, which she said is the United States’ strongest partner in the Indo-Pacific, The Hill reported.

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“Regular high-level visits to Taipei have been a long-term policy of the United States,” Blackburn said, adding that she would not be bullied by China into turning her back on Taiwan.

Blackburn arrived in Taiwan after layovers in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, and was received at the airport by Douglas Hsu, director of the North American Affairs Department of Taiwan’s foreign ministry, The Hill reported.

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Hill, citing sources, said Blackburn would meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday and set off on Saturday.

Earlier this month, Pelosi led a delegation to Taiwan, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the island in 25 years. In response, after her departure, China conducted several days of military exercises near the island. In addition, a five-member delegation of lawmakers also visited Taiwan a few days later, prompting China to conduct another military exercise after the visit.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory and wants to unify the mainland with the democratic island.

China says Taiwan is the most important issue for diplomatic relations with Washington, while the Taiwanese government says Beijing has never ruled the island and has no right to decide whom to engage with.

Chinese military exercises are continuing around Taiwan in what some analysts say is a simulation of a full-scale attack on the island of 22 million people.

China’s ruling Communist Party sees Taiwan as part of its territory, although it never controls it, and has long vowed to “unify” Taiwan with mainland China by force if necessary.

After Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the PLA conducted intimidation drills in the East China Sea and the South China Sea on July 30, live-fire exercises in the Bohai Bay from August 1 to 4, and regular exercises in the South China Sea from August 2 to 6. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)