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U.S. Delegation Visits Taiwan for Trade Talks, Risking China’s Ire

A delegation including Indiana’s governor arrived in Taiwan on Sunday to begin trade talks with Taipei amid increased U.S. political tensions with China, which launched a barrage of military drills near the island in response to visits this month by American government officials.

The delegation, including Gov. Eric J. Holcomb; Bradley B. Chambers, Indiana’s secretary of commerce; and others, will also visit South Korea later this week. The officials are set to meet with business and academic leaders in Taiwan and South Korea, and will focus on “strengthening Indiana’s economic and academic partnerships” with both places, Mr. Holcomb said in a news release.

“I’m committed to building an economy of the future with these global partners who are helping propel Indiana forward by creating tomorrow’s businesses, today,” the governor’s statement said.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said on Twitter, “We’re excited to renew links with good friends and deepen our partnership with the great U.S. state of Indiana.”

The visit comes after the Biden administration announced last week that it would begin official trade negotiations with Taiwan this fall. The move was aimed at strengthening ties with the self-governing island, which the United States considers an important market. But it also heightened political tensions with China, which has long claimed sovereignty over Taiwan.

Read More on the Relations Between Asia and the U.S.

  • Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan exacerbated tensions between the United States and China, which claims the self-governing island as its own.
  • Reassuring Allies: Amid China’s military exercises near Taiwan, the Biden administration said its commitment to the region has only deepened. But critics argued the tensions over Taiwan showed that Washington needed stronger military and economic strategies.
  • CHIPS and Science Act: President Biden signed into law a $280 billion bill aimed at building up America’s manufacturing and technological edge to counter China.
  • Trade Talks: After several weeks of rising tensions with China, the Biden administration announced that it would begin formal trade negotiations with Taiwan this fall.

Sunday’s visit comes on the heels of a high-profile trip this month by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the most senior member of the U.S. government to visit the island in 25 years; and another by a bipartisan group of five U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts. Taiwanese officials have welcomed the visits as a show of solidarity amid harsh denunciations by Beijing.

On Sunday, Douglas Hsu, a top official in Taiwan’s foreign ministry, welcomed Mr. Holcomb after he landed in Taiwan. The foreign ministry said in a statement that it believed “the visit will help continue to enhance and strengthen bilateral relations and deepen the mutually beneficial partnership between Taiwan and the United States.”

The ministry said that Mr. Holcomb and his delegation would meet with President Tsai Ing-wen, the foreign minister and representatives of the island’s semiconductor industries during a four-day visit.

Beijing did not immediately respond on Sunday to the presence of the new U.S. delegation. But China escalated its military drills in waters near Taiwan in response to the visits by Ms. Pelosi and other government officials this month, sending multiple fighter jets and vessels around the island.

On Sunday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected 12 aircraft and five vessels from China’s People’s Liberation Army near its territory.

The Biden administration has said that it would continue to conduct its own military operations in the area despite pressure from Beijing.

A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the Indiana governor’s trip, instead referring reporters to comments this month by Ned Price, the department’s press secretary, after the visits by Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Markey and other members of Congress. Mr. Price called the delegations “peaceful visits by members of Congress who are traveling there to show their support for the people on Taiwan.”

He has routinely criticized China’s military maneuvers in response to such trips as “totally unnecessary and an absolute overreaction.”

Mr. Holcomb’s delegation includes staff from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and representatives from Indiana’s Purdue University, which announced in June that it would partner with MediaTek, a Taiwanese semiconductor company, to move some of the company’s operations to Indiana. The delegation will head to South Korea on Thursday

Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting.

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