U.S. Senator Duckworth arrives in Taiwan for three-day visit

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) United States Senator Tammy Duckworth has arrived in Taiwan for a three-day visit, during which she will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other senior government officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Monday.

The senator arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on a commercial flight on Monday night and was welcomed by Deputy Foreign Minister Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), MOFA said in a press release.

Aside from meeting Tsai, Duckworth will also meet with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花), and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) to exchange views on issues of mutual interest, it said.

Among the issues to be discussed are regional security, trade and investment, and global supply chains, according to the American Institute in Taiwan, the U.S.' de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

Duckworth, whose visit is part of a larger tour of the Indo-Pacific region, is in Taiwan for a second consecutive year after stopping over for a day in June 2021 with fellow senators Dan Sullivan and Chris Coons.

The senators announced then that the U.S. would be donating 750,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan at a time when Taiwan was caught short of vaccines during a surge in coronavirus cases.

An Iraq War veteran, Duckworth is a member of the Senate Taiwan Caucus and has jointly initiated a number of Taiwan-friendly bills, according to MOFA.

She is scheduled to leave on Wednesday.

Update

May 31: U.S. legislative support for Taiwan's security tremendous: Duckworth