It is a visit that should once again anger China. Fifteen days after the visit of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to Taiwan, a new delegation of American parliamentarians is expected on the island, announced Sunday August 14 the American Institute in Taiwan (in English)which represents the US government there.
>> Taiwan: we explain to you why Nancy Pelosi’s visit is straining relations between China and the United States.
This delegation includes Senator Ed Markey, Representatives John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal, Don Beyer and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, the sole representative of the Republican Party. This new visit was not announced. The two-day visit comes days after the end of Beijing’s largest-ever military maneuvers around Taiwan, in response to a visit to Nancy Pelosi’s island.
Strengthening relations with the United States
In response to these maneuvers, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the region. Washington to strengthen trade ties with Taiwan and conduct new air and sea crossings in the strait, in response to actions “provocateurs” from China, Kurt Campbell, the White House’s Asia-Pacific coordinator, announced on Friday.
China considers Taiwan, with a population of around 23 million, to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War ( 1949). Opposed to any initiative giving the Taiwanese authorities international legitimacy, Beijing is against any official contact between Taiwan and other countries.
US officials visit the island frequently, but China considers the visit of Nancy Pelosi, one of the highest figures in the US state, to have been a major provocation.