American visits to Taiwan continue – The governor of Indiana visited the island

Indiana’s governor arrived in Taipei today, becoming the latest US official to visit Taiwan and defying Chinese pressure not to make such trips.

China, which claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory despite strong objections from the Taipei government, has been holding war games and exercises near Taiwan since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid a two-day visit to Taipei earlier this year. per month.

Last week a second group of US congressmen visited Taiwan.

Gov. Eric Holcomb tweeted that he would also visit South Korea, while Taiwan’s presidential office said he would meet with President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday morning, Reuters reported.

“I’m excited to spend this week building new relationships, strengthening long-standing and strengthening key sectoral partnerships with Taiwan and South Korea,” Holcomb tweeted.

He described his visit to Taiwan and South Korea as an “economic development trip,” saying he is the first US governor to visit Taiwan since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago.

“Our delegation will spend this week meeting with government officials, business and academic institutions to further strengthen Indiana’s economic, academic and cultural ties with Taiwan and South Korea,” Holcomb wrote on his Twitter account.

There was no immediate response from China on his arrival.

China says Taiwan is the most important and sensitive issue in its relations with Washington and considers it an internal issue.

Taiwan’s government says that since the People’s Republic of China never ruled the island, it has no right to claim it and that only Taiwan’s 23 million residents can decide their future.

China’s military exercises continue around Taiwan, though on a smaller scale than immediately after Pelosi’s trip.