Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) Five Taiwanese lawmakers arrived in Washington on Monday for a visit during which they will meet American members of Congress and hold closed-door meetings with officials in the United States government who deal with issues related to Taiwan.
The delegation comprised Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers Charles Chen (陳以信), Yeh Yu-lan (葉毓蘭), Jennifer Chen (陳玉珍) and Hsu Chang Yu-mei (張育美) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Mark Ho (何志偉), according to a statement from the office of Charles Chen, deputy chairman of the Legislative Yuan USA Caucus.
Two other lawmakers, Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞) of the KMT and Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) of the DPP, were to join the delegation separately at a later time, the statement said, without specifying when they would arrive.
The planned meetings were arranged with the help of the American Institute in Taiwan, the U.S.' de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties, the statement said.
The visit to the U.S., the first since the founding of the Legislative Yuan USA Caucus in July 2020, is aimed at deepening Taiwan-U.S. ties and showing goodwill following a recent flurry of visits by U.S. members of Congress, Charles Chen said.
Among the planned encounters are closed-door meetings with officials at the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense who are involved with issues related to Taiwan.
On Capitol Hill, they are expected to meet with Senator Mark Warner and Representatives Don Beyer, Mark Takano and Judy Chu of the Democratic Party and Republican Senators Richard Burr, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville, Mike Lee and Marsha Blackburn and Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart, Debbie Lesko and Darrell Issa.
While there, the Taiwanese lawmakers are also scheduled to co-host a banquet with the Taiwan Agricultural Goodwill Mission, he said.
Beyond those meetings, the delegation will be briefed by Taiwan's Representative to the U.S. Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and visit the Republic of China Defense Mission to the U.S. before attending an evening event at Twin Oaks.
The delegation is expected to return home on Saturday evening.
