Michael McCaul, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the United States House of Representatives, is expected to arrive in Taiwan on Thursday for a visit, during which he will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), a Taiwanese lawmaker told CNA Sunday.
Aside from the meeting with the president, McCaul and his delegation are also scheduled to hold discussions with members of the Legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, to gain a better understanding of the threats and challenges facing Taiwan, said Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), who is a member of the committee.
Wang confirmed the upcoming visit after the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported early Sunday that McCaul was leading a delegation of eight Foreign Affairs Committee members on a three-day trip to Taiwan, which will start April 6.
The delegation has already departed the U.S. for Japan and will visit South Korea before traveling to Taipei, where the members are likely to meet with President Tsai on April 8, the report said, quoting an unnamed source.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said the delegation will be in Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday and is scheduled to meet with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to discuss further cooperation in response to the escalating threats from North Korea.
McCaul of the Republican party had said publicly in February that he planned to lead a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in spring this yar.
"I think it's important to show China that we support Taiwan as a deterrence," he said at the time.
Asked Monday about the reported impending visit, Taiwan's foreign ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) declined to comment, saying only that the Taiwan government welcomes visits by American lawmakers and will publicize any such information when the time is right.
