EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is calling on the United States to strengthen its partnership with Taiwan through trade and criticizing China for trying to “dictate” the island’s diplomacy after it was revealed she was part of a bipartisan group that met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
“We cannot allow Communist China to dictate the critical partnership between the United States and Taiwan,” Ernst told Fox News Digital. “Following my meeting with President Tsai, I’m confident that our nation can and should do more to ensure that the Taiwan of tomorrow is prepared to deter growing threats.”
Ernst, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., met with Tsai last week in New York. Tsai also met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., while in the Empire State, according to an English-language Taiwanese outlet.
“My priority will continue to be strengthening the United States-Taiwan partnership through trade, including Iowa’s agriculture products, enhanced military training and swift weapons transfers – doing so promotes American prosperity and secures our interests,” Ernst told Fox News Digital.
According to the Taiwanese report, “Tsai stressed that Taiwan will continue to be a crucial and reliable economic and trade partner and work with like-minded countries to build resilient global supply chains and contribute to global economic recovery in the post-COVID era.”
TAIWAN SCRAMBLES JETS, SHIPS AFTER ‘IRRATIONAL ACTIONS’ BY CHINESE MILITARY
The senators’ meeting with Tsai came roughly a week before her face-to-face with another congressional delegation in California, this time led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. U.S. lawmakers have shown growing levels of concern about Taiwan’s fate at the hands of an increasingly aggressive China.
China has again ramped up its show of force toward Taiwan between Tsai’s two visits with U.S. officials.
Beijing’s military reportedly announced that it was staging a joint cruise and patrol operation with three warships ahead of Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy. Last year, when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., visited Taiwan, China similarly reacted with aggressive shows of force.
Sullivan said in a statement Wednesday that Chinese Communist Party officials cannot be allowed to intimidate other leaders’ encounters with the U.S.
“It’s important when a leader of this important island democracy travels to the United States that dictators in Beijing are not allowed to dictate who Americans can meet with, especially on American soil,” Sullivan said in a public statement.
“While the CCP wants the world to believe that Taiwan is isolated, nothing could be further from the truth,” he added.