According to three people with knowledge of the situation, US Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi will travel to Taiwan in August, according to a report from The Financial Times on Thursday.
According to the report, Wicker is “one of Taiwan’s biggest allies in Congress” and the Republican chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee.
Washington’s de facto embassy in Taipei, Wicker’s office, and the American Institute in Taiwan, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the alleged trip.
US legislators regularly travel to Taiwan, an unofficial ally of Washington, but Wicker’s visit comes at a time when US-Taiwan relations are uncertain.
According to people with knowledge of the situation, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te reportedly planned to travel to the US next month to meet with his allies in Latin America, but he canceled his travel plans after Trump canceled a layover in New York, according to the Financial Times.
Lai’s office never made the trip’s official announcement, but his office claimed the president had no plans to travel abroad as part of his ongoing negotiations with the US and typhoon cleanup.
President Lai’s cancelled visit was reportedly timing because it came after a separate announcement from Trump that he intended to travel to China at President Xi Jinping’s request as Beijing and Washington worked out a tariff deal.
Xi, who also leads the Chinese Communist Party, calls on Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to annex Taiwan with force or through peace.
Beijing objectes to Taiwanese leaders making unofficial visits to the US.
Although Wicker’s trip may have been planned months in the past, according to experts, US lawmakers may still use it to sabotage concerns that the White House is no longer interested in Taiwan.
According to Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Taiwan University in Taipei, “I’m sure many will hope for words of affirmation and commitment to the US-Taiwan relationship, which would have previously been normal,” but today will feel more important to assure both the DPP and Taiwanese citizens who have a declining view of the United States.”
There are strong skepticisms about the US that are permeating Taiwanese society, including the US, which is Taiwan’s security guarantor and has pledged to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself.
Since Trump took office last year, the issue has become more significant, with Trump threatening to impose a 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese exports after saying Taiwan should pay for its own defense.
Only 23.1 percent of Taiwanese voters voted for the US as either a “trustworthy” or “very trustworthy,” according to a survey conducted in April by Nachman and others, down from 33.6 percent in June 2024, when US President Joe Biden was still in office.
If Beijing tries to halt the trip, according to Liza Tobin, managing director of the geopolitical advisory group Garnaut Global.
According to Tobin, who previously served as China Director of the US National Security Council, Trump has already granted Beijing a number of concessions, including access to Nvidia’s H20 chip and refusing to grant Lai approval.
With the president attempting to negotiate a trade deal with China and a trip to Xi, China may try to pressure the administration to turn around and force Wicker to rescind the trip, she said. “Unilateral concessions are like catnip for Beijing to push for more concessions,” she said.
Source: Aljazeera
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