Senator Marsha Blackburn grew to become the newest senior U.S. politician to go to Taiwan in August regardless of protests and warnings from Beijing.

When Speaker of the U.S. Home of Representatives Nancy Pelosi made a stopover in Taipei earlier this month, China threatened the “strongest countermeasures” and introduced a serious navy train across the island.

China considers Taiwan considered one of its provinces that should be reunited with the mainland and categorically rejects “exterior interference” in its inner issues.

Pelosi was adopted by a flurry of tourists together with Democratic Senator Ed Markey, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and now Marsha Blackburn.

New Axis of Evil 

Blackburn touched down at Songshan Airport in central Taipei on Thursday night and her first message on Twitter was: “I simply landed in Taiwan to ship a message to Beijing — we is not going to be bullied.”

“It’s time we concentrate on rewarding Taiwan’s dedication to democratic values and guarantee they’ve the required assets to fight Communist China and the New Axis of Evil,” Blackburn stated afterwards. 

“Xi Jinping doesn’t scare me,” the 70-year-old Republican Senator stated. 

“Axis of Evil” was a catchphrase first utilized by former U.S. President George W. Bush to consult with Iran, Iraq and North Korea. The time period was used to explain states that allegedly sponsored terrorism and harbored weapons of mass destruction.

China has but to reply to the information however Beijing has to date been condemning Washington for “taking part in the Taiwan card in opposition to China.”

The Chinese language Communist Social gathering’s mouthpiece China Each day on Friday ran an opinion column by Tang Yonghong who warned that “U.S. strikes on Taiwan will backfire.” 

“The USA, with the assistance of the Taiwan authorities, is making an attempt to hole out the One-China precept,” wrote Tang, who’s deputy director of the Taiwan Analysis Heart at Xiamen College.

Such visits by U.S. politicians are a part of the technique to “intervene in China’s inner affairs, to be able to verify China’s rise,” the analyst wrote.

In accordance with Tang, “the established order throughout the Straits has been damaged” so the Chinese language management is more likely to “speed up efforts to take away the obstacles” to nationwide reunification. In different phrases, a plan to take over Taiwan could also be introduced ahead.

‘U.S.’s strongest companion’

“Taiwan is our strongest companion within the Indo-Pacific Area,” Blackburn, who sits on the Senate Commerce and Armed Companies committees, stated in a press launch. 

“Common high-level visits to Taipei are long-standing U.S. coverage,” she stated, including that she “is not going to be bullied by Communist China into turning my again on the island.”

China shouldn’t be allowed to “set the international coverage” for the U.S., she stated in separate public remarks.

Throughout her three-day keep in Taiwan Blackburn met with President Tsai Ing-wen and Overseas Minister Joseph Wu and is scheduled to carry talks with the Secretary-Common of the Nationwide Safety Council Wellington Koo, in keeping with the Taiwanese Overseas Ministry.

Previous to Taiwan, the senator from Tennessee visited Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea the place she mentioned with Pacific Islands’ leaders “the problem of nice energy competitors.”

Regional leaders have lengthy been anxious about U.S.-China rivalry that will result in hostile penalties together with the chance of warfare.

In March, China and the Solomon Islands signed an settlement on safety cooperation that sparked issues about China’s rising affect within the Pacific area.

A lot of U.S. delegations have since traveled to Pacific Island nations to advertise the U.S.-led imaginative and prescient of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”