House Foreign Affairs Committee in a statement said its chairman Michael McCaul landed in Taipei, along with a congressional delegation to meet the newly inaugurated Taiwan administration.

The delegation will meet Taiwanese authorities “to discuss regional security, trade, and investment to explore new areas of collaboration between the United States and Taiwan,” the statement said, Anadolu Agency reported.

Earlier in May, China called on William Lai Ching-te to choose between peace and war.

“It’s peace, not war; development, not regression; interactions, not separation; and cooperation, not confrontation that represent the prevailing public sentiment in Taiwan society,” said Chen Binhua, spokesman of China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, commenting on Lai’s possible inauguration speech on Monday.

The spokesman said Lai “must decide whether to heed the people’s aspirations and pursue the path of peaceful development or deviate from public opinion.”

China considers Taiwan as its breakaway province, but the latter has insisted on its independence since 1949.

US interventions regarding the Taiwan issue, which is contrary to the one-China policy, have raised tensions recently.

MP/PR