As Speaker Nancy Pelosi leads a high-stakes — but largely symbolic — congressional visit to Taiwan, senators in Washington are slated Wednesday to make a lower-profile — but potentially more tangible — expression of U.S. support for self-rule in Taipei.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to mark up legislation from Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that could significantly ramp up the types and amounts of defense systems the United States can provide to Taiwan. But it could slip onto an already crowded September slate in the Senate.
While committee support for the legislation is seen as solid, the bill’s immediate future is uncertain amid concerns about whether moving forward with the markup would unproductively inflame already-high tensions with Beijing while Pelosi and the rest of a congressional delegation are still in Taiwan.
