{"id":15896,"date":"2024-02-22T12:47:07","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T12:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/22\/us-will-support-taiwan-regardless-of-election-results-rep-gallagher-says-on-visit-to-island\/"},"modified":"2024-02-22T12:47:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T12:47:07","slug":"us-will-support-taiwan-regardless-of-election-results-rep-gallagher-says-on-visit-to-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/22\/us-will-support-taiwan-regardless-of-election-results-rep-gallagher-says-on-visit-to-island\/","title":{"rendered":"US will support Taiwan regardless of election results, Rep. Gallagher says on visit to island"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

American support for Taiwan will continue no matter who wins the upcoming US election, House Rep. Mike Gallagher told an audience in the democratic island on Thursday, as tensions simmer between Taipei and Beijing. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident regardless of how the presidential election goes, we will maintain our support not only for Taiwan but also a posture of internationalism and engagement,\u201d Gallagher told reporters in the capital Taipei. <\/p>\n

The lawmaker, who chairs the House of Representatives select committee on China, is leading a five-member bipartisan delegation on a three-day visit to self-ruled Taiwan. <\/p>\n

The trip comes amid a period of heightened tensions between Taipei and Beijing, following\u00a0the deaths last week of two Chinese fisherman Taiwan said trespassed into protected waters. <\/p>\n

China\u2019s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own territory, despite never having controlled it, and has vowed to take the island \u2013 by force if necessary. <\/p>\n

Gallagher said American efforts to support Ukraine\u2019s defense against Russia\u2019s invasion were also critical to deterring Beijing from using force against Taiwan. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe outcome in Ukraine matters not only for Ukraine and American credibility, but for deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, for cross-strait deterrence,\u201d the lawmaker said. <\/p>\n

US funding for Ukraine has been mired in political infighting in Congress, where a contingent of Republicans are resisting additional aid, encouraged by presidential candidate Donald Trump. <\/p>\n

Trump is widely expected to face off against incumbent Joe Biden in the presidential elections in November. <\/p>\n

The potential return to office of the former president, who earlier this month said he would not defend NATO allies that failed to spend enough on defense, has raised concerns in Europe about continued US support for Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Speaking alongside Gallagher in Taipei, Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic congressman, also told reporters in the same news conference that Washington \u201ccan\u2019t be tough on China and weak in your support of Ukraine \u2026 you can\u2019t be inconsistent.\u201d <\/p>\n

Beijing\u2019s ire<\/h2>\n

The US delegation also met with Taiwan\u2019s President Tsai Ing-wen and President-elect Lai Ching-te on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Gallagher lauded Tsai, who ends her final term in office in May,\u00a0as an \u201cincredible\u201d and distinguished leader of the free world where \u201cfreedom is under attack from authoritarian aggression.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tsai said Thursday that Taipei hopes \u201cto see even more Taiwan-US exchanges\u201d this year. <\/p>\n

Congress plays an important role in the unofficial relations between Taiwan and the United States, which ended formal diplomatic ties with the self-ruled island in 1979 when it recognized Beijing. <\/p>\n

American lawmakers regularly visit Taiwan and have supported legislation to bolster US support for the island and its defensive capabilities. <\/p>\n

Gallagher, a Republican representing Wisconsin, has been a staunch supporter of Taiwan and a strong critic of China during his tenure in Congress. <\/p>\n

The delegation\u2019s visit sparked the ire of Beijing, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday saying\u00a0it \u201calways firmly opposes any form of official exchange between the United States and the Taiwan authorities and firmly opposes any interference in Taiwan affairs by any means or under any pretext.\u201d <\/p>\n

Troubled waters<\/h2>\n

The delegation\u2019s visit comes during a period of heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, sparked by the drowning of two Chinese fishermen near Taiwan\u2019s Kinmen Island last week. <\/p>\n

According to Taiwanese authorities, the fishermen died after their speedboat capsized following a high-speed pursuit by Taiwan\u2019s coast guard, which accused the vessel of entering prohibited waters. <\/p>\n

Following the incident, Taiwanese authorities last week expressed regret over the deaths, but maintained that its maritime law enforcement officers were acting on their mandates in accordance with the law. <\/p>\n

China condemned the incident and\u00a0has since ramped up patrols in the area, including a rare Chinese coast guard interception earlier this week of a Taiwanese tourist boat. <\/p>\n

The situation escalated further Wednesday when China accused Taiwan of a cover-up over the deaths after state media reported the return of two surviving Chinese crew members. <\/p>\n

In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday, one of the surviving fishermen said their boat was struck by a Taiwanese coast guard vessel. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect it to rush over and hit our boat,\u201d he said in a\u00a0video. \u201cHow could our boat capsize on its own? \u2026 (They) rammed into us and knocked us over.\u201d <\/p>\n

China\u2019s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement accusing Taiwan authorities of \u201cseeking to evade responsibilities and covering up the truth.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe solemnly demand relevant parties in Taiwan to release the truth as soon as possible, severely punish those responsible \u2026 and solemnly apologize to the families of the victims,\u201d Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the office, said in the\u00a0statement. <\/p>\n

Taiwan had earlier denied Beijing\u2019s accusations of \u201crough expulsions\u201d and defended the actions of its coast guard, saying the incident happened due to the refusal to cooperate by the Chinese fishermen, who made a dangerous move to flee. <\/p>\n

On Thursday, deputy captain of Taiwan\u2019s coast guard Chen Chien-wen said the Chinese vessel took a \u201csharp turn\u201d while evading the coast guard, causing the speedboat to crash into the Taiwanese vessel and capsize. <\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s coast guard also said on Thursday that it cannot comment on China\u2019s calls to \u201cseverely punish\u201d personnel responsible for the deaths of the fishermen as the case is under investigation. <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American support for Taiwan will continue no matter who wins the upcoming US election, House Rep. Mike Gallagher told an audience in the democratic island on Thursday, as tensions simmer between Taipei and Beijing. \u201cI\u2019m confident regardless of how the presidential election goes, we will maintain our support not only for Taiwan but also a <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}