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Taiwan lawmakers talk defense, trade with U.S. members of Congress

ROC Central News Agency

09/15/2022 06:09 PM

Taipei, Sept. 15 (CNA) A delegation of lawmakers from Taiwan Wednesday met with their U.S. counterparts in Washington and exchanged views on recent developments in U.S.-Taiwan relations, cross-strait relations, and bilateral trade.

The delegation met with representatives including Republican Senators Mike Lee and Marsha Blackburn, as well as Representatives Darrell Issa and Mario Díaz-Balart, according to a statement by Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Chen I-hsin (陳以信) on Thursday.

Darrell Issa expressed concern about recent developments in the Taiwan Strait and recommended that Taiwan push reforms of its military reserve system, including improving its training, according to Chen.

Issa said that a sound system for training and maintaining reservists was crucial for any robust democracy, according to Chen.

Díaz-Balart, who co-chairs the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, underlined Taiwan's importance to the democratic world while reassuring that the U.S. was Taiwan's most dependable partner, Chen said.

Mike Lee, who visited Taiwan in November last year, expressed hope that bilateral trade could be strengthened, and pledged to give his unstinting support to a free trade agreement between the two countries, according to Chen.

Referencing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Chen suggested upgrading Taiwan's trade status to what he called a "non-USMCA" partner, thereby boosting the volume and scope of bilateral trade.

"Taiwan is a vital international partner. They are Utah's 5th largest trading partner and continue to add trade, tourism, and international friendship to the communities all around our state," Lee, the senior senator from Utah, said on social media after the meeting.

Later in the day, the Taiwanese lawmakers interacted with more than 20 U.S. members of Congress at a banquet on Capitol Hill, where the Taiwan Agricultural Trade Goodwill Mission signed a letter of intent to purchase US$3.2 billion worth of U.S. agriculture produce.

 

(By Wang Cheng-chung and Sean Lin)

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