TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC)—traveled to Taiwan, the first Senator to do so after the disastrous Trump-Xi summit. After Donald Trump kowtowed to President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Xi Jinping and waffled on delivering a critical bipartisan arms package to Taiwan, the Senator plans to meet with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim and other leaders to underscore the United States’ unwavering support for Taiwan’s democracy and discuss her work to ensure our vital partnership remains strong long-term, no matter who sits in the White House.
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“As a Pacific nation, we must remain reliable partners to Taiwan—for the sake of their security and our own,” said Duckworth. “Our friendship with Taiwan is bigger than any one President. No matter who sits in the Oval Office, Congress must have a steady vision for supporting Taiwan’s democracy and self-defense for the long haul. My message is clear: I will always work hand-in-hand with Taiwan and our other partners throughout the region to tackle our shared challenges, strengthen security and build a more prosperous future.”
The Senator’s arrival in Taiwan immediately follows her trip to Japan, where she met with high-level business leaders to promote Illinois’ economic ties in the region. In addition to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, the Senator will also meet with President of the Legislative Yuan Han Kuo-yu, Minister of National Defense Koo Li-hsiung and Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin, among other leaders, in Taiwan.
Duckworth is a proven leader when it comes to strengthening our relations with Indo-Pacific nations and improving security in the region—which she has done while successfully securing significant international investments in Illinois. In May, Duckworth led a bipartisan Congressional delegation (CODEL) to the Philippines and Singapore to discuss her efforts to redouble U.S. collaboration with our Indo-Pacific partners and ensure security in the region. Last month, two of the Senator’s bills to enhance crisis management strategy and to improve diplomatic engagement in the Indo-Pacific both advanced out of committee and now await a full Senate vote.
Four months ago, Duckworth slammed Donald Trump’s reckless Iran war for being a gift to the PRC and for undermining our military readiness and security in the Indo-Pacific. Duckworth’s Indo-Pacific Medical Readiness program—a program she championed in the FY2025 NDAA and continues to implement through provisions in this year’s NDAA—will help ensure our nation’s servicemembers as well as their families have access to quality patient care throughout the Indo-Pacific region, where they often must travel long distances to receive care.
Last year, Duckworth led official visits to South Korea and Japan to meet with government and economic leaders and discuss how the U.S. can better collaborate with our Indo-Pacific partners to enhance American shipbuilding capabilities and mutually strengthen each other’s economies. As a member of SFRC, Duckworth has extensively championed Illinois abroad. In a previous trip to Taiwan, she helped secure a commitment from Taiwan to purchase an estimated $2.6 billion of Illinois’s corn and soybeans, and following an official visit to Japan, Japan announced a regulatory change that will lead to an increase in imports from U.S. biofuel producers, supporting our farmers and growing Illinois’s economy.
