Lawmakers visit Taiwan as Biden seeks China detente

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan congressional delegation led by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers landed in Taiwan on Tuesday for a three day visit, according to the American Institute in Taiwan.

The Alabama Republican was joined on the trip by several members of the committee, including its ranking member, Adam Smith, D-Wash., as well as several committee members and other lawmakers.

The delegation will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The visit comes at a sensitive time for America’s relationship with China, its largest trading partner and strategic competitor in political, economic and security arenas.

Taiwan is at the center of a broader effort by Washington to contain China’s military and diplomatic expansion throughout the Indo-Pacific. Taiwan is a self-ruling democracy, but China views Taiwan as a province of the Chinese mainland. Beijing considers any attempt by Taiwan’s leaders to act independently of Beijing as a threat to Chinese sovereignty.

Rogers’ trip to Taiwan marks at least the third time this year that members of Congress have made public trips to the island, but the first time Rogers has done so.

The fact that Rogers chairs the committee charged with funding and oversight of the U.S. military likely won’t be lost on Beijing or Taipei.

A spokeswoman for the House Armed Services Commitee declined to comment on the trip.

Congressional visits to geopolitically sensitive areas like Taiwan are typically kept under wraps until the delegation arrives, and any public comments about the trip are usually reserved until after it is over.

Rogers’ visit to Taipei comes as the Biden administration is taking several steps aimed at stabilizing the bilateral relationship with China, which reached a low point in February, after the United States shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing in June, a trip that was originally scheduled for February, but postponed in response to the spy balloon dustup.

At that point, “the relationship was at a point of instability, and both sides recognized the need to work to stabilize it,” Blinken said at a news conference at the end of his June visit.

“My hope and expectation is: we will have better communications, better engagement going forward,” he added.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reportedly plans to visit China in July, Bloomberg News reported this week. The Treasury Department declined to comment on her travel plans.

But while visits by senior Biden administration officials to China may help normalize the U.S.-China relationship, visits like Rogers’ delegation to Taiwan tend to have the opposite effect.

Anti-China sentiment is far more visible on Capitol Hill, where it is one of the few issues on which both parties agree, than it is in the White House, where U.S. trade interests and the need to avoid military conflict are higher priorities.

Beijing has not yet commented on the trip. A spokeswoman for the National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the congressional visit.