As we set foot on the tarmac in Taiwan, with thousands of people lining the midnight streets to welcome us, I turned back to look at our military aircraft, with the illuminated American flag on its tail. Just as the American flag serves as a beacon of freedom across the world, so too does Taiwan serve as a beacon of democracy against the growing aggression and autocracy of the People’s Republic of China.
It’s for that reason that I, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and four of my colleagues from the House of Representatives, felt the need to visit Taipei despite the threats from Beijing — to show our support for the people of Taiwan and to demonstrate that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will not be allowed to dictate their security, or ours.
Taiwan’s inclusive, vibrant democracy and advanced economy, which is growing faster than China’s and produces more than half the world’s microchips, cannot be allowed to fall at the hands of the CCP. So far, the government in Beijing has met President Tsai Ing-wen’s efforts toward de-escalation with only growing belligerence.
