US senator meets Taiwan president amid tensions with China

By HUIZHONG WU
Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A U.S. senator has met with Taiwan’s president in Taipei, in the second visit by members of Congress since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip earlier this month sharply raised tensions with China. U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn reaffirmed U.S. support for the self-governing island democracy in her meeting with Tsai on Friday morning. Pelosi was the highest-level member of the U.S. government to visit Taiwan in 25 years. China responded to her visit with large-scale military exercises that included firing missiles over the island and sending ships across the midline of the Taiwan Strait, seen as a buffer between the two sides. Some of the missiles landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory.