Senator Marsha Blackburn, the latest US lawmaker to visit Taiwan, met President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday amid the rising tensions with China.

Blackburn arrived in Taiwan on Thursday after a series of high-level visits of US officials that set off military exercises in the Taiwan Strait. “Thank you, @iingwen, for your strong leadership in standing up against the Chinese Communist Party. The United States supports Taiwan and its freedom-loving people,” Senator Blackburn tweeted.

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After she landed in Taipei, Blackburn applauded US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan alongside 25 other Republican senators. She said that Taiwan is the strongest partner of the US in the Indo-Pacific Region.

“Regular high-level visits to Taipei are long-standing US policy,” Blackburn said, adding that she will not be bullied by China into turning her back on the island.
Blackburn arrived in Taiwan after stops in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. She was received by the director-general for North American affairs in Taiwan’s foreign ministry, Douglas Hsu at the airport, The Hill reported.

This latest visit comes in the backdrop of the US House Speaker’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month. This trip was the highest-ranking US official to visit the island in 25 years.

China responded by conducting military drills for multiple days near the island after she left.

Undeterred by the Chinese threat, a five-member delegation of lawmakers also visited Taiwan days later, prompting China to once again launch military drills following their visit.

Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and wants to reunify the democratic island if needed by force.

China says Taiwan is the most important issue that dedicates its diplomatic ties with Washington whereas Taiwan’s government says that Beijing has never ruled the island and has no right to decide who it engages.

China’s military drills are continuing around Taiwan, which some analysts say is a simulation of a full-scale scale attack on the island of 22 million people.

China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it, and has long vowed to “reunify” the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.

Upon Nancy Pelosi’s visit, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted threatening drills in East China and South China Seas.