WASHINGTON – Two leading House Republicans are meeting with Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly opposition leader this week as she travels to Washington at a time when China is scrutinizing the Trump administration's posture toward the self-ruled island it views as its own.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., are planning to sit down with Cheng Li-wun, leader of the Kuomingtang Party, who has supported a peaceful reunification of Taiwan with Beijing.
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Mast, in an interview, said he didn’t have specific expectations for his meeting with Cheng but said as the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, “I take intelligence from anywhere I can get.”
A spokesperson for Kim, who leads a subcommittee overseeing East Asia policy, said the lawmaker plans to encourage Cheng and her party to support more defense spending because it would be an “important demonstration of Taiwan’s commitment to self-defense and deterrence.”
Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature last month passed a $25 billion special defense budget to fund major U.S. arms purchases. Trump administration officials expressed disappointment that the approved amount is a significant reduction from Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's original $40 billion proposal.
Kim also wants to discuss Cheng’s meeting in April with Chinese President Xi Jinping and “seek greater clarity on the substance of those discussions,” said Ellie Gilchrist, the lawmaker’s spokesperson.
Cheng’s visit to Washington comes as President Donald Trump publicly floats the prospect that he could have a direct call with his Taiwanese counterpart.
The U.S. president had indicated he wanted to speak with Lai as his administration considers whether to go ahead with a $14 billion arms sale for Taipei that Congress approved earlier this year but that has since been on hold.
Trump said last month as he returned to the U.S. from China that he intends to speak with Lai, which would be the first direct dialogue between sitting U.S. and Taiwanese presidents in decades. China has urged against it.
“I’ll always talk to him,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday when asked whether he is still considering a phone call with Lai.