Latest US delegation to visit Taiwan pushes for closer economic ties with self-ruled island

A group of eight US Congress members paid an unannounced visit to Taiwan on September 8, 2022, as part of a larger Indo-Pacific region tour. US Democratic Representative Stephanie Murphy led a bipartisan group to the self-ruled island, in the sixth such trip by a US political delegation in five weeks. In early August, a visit by the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan prompted the launch of unprecedented live-fire drills by mainland Chinese forces in the Taiwan Strait. Concurrent with Murphy’s arrival, French lawmakers started the first high-level European delegation to visit the island since the PLA drills.