Roger Wicker and Deb Fischer meet island’s president in Taipei as Beijing says trip sends ‘gravely wrong signal’
A visit to Taiwan by two US senators has drawn criticism from China, which claims the island as its own and objects to any contact between officials of the two sides.
The chair of the Senate armed services committee, Roger Wicker, and the Nebraska senator Deb Fischer arrived in Taipei on Friday for a series of high-level meetings with senior Taiwanese leaders. They plan to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security and trade and investment, according to the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de facto embassy in lieu of formal diplomatic relations with the self-governing island democracy.
Upon arrival, Wicker said: “A thriving democracy is never fully assured … and we’re here to talk to our friends and allies in Taiwan about what we’re doing to enhance worldwide peace.”
Wicker told Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, during a meeting at the presidential office in Taipei, that he and Fischer were visiting to get a better understanding of Taiwan’s needs and concerns.
