WASHINGTON — On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) joined Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.) in sending a letter to Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-Ind.) concerning Taiwan and communist China.

 

The Senators are asking the committee to hold regular Member-level classified briefings and an open full committee hearing with cabinet-level officials from the Biden Administration’s State Department and Defense Department about U.S. strategy toward Communist China and U.S. policy regarding Taiwan.

 

The request comes after President Joe Biden told reporters this week that he and Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, had agreed to abide by the “Taiwan Agreement”.

 

“It is unclear when President Biden spoke with CCP General Secretary Xi about Taiwan—in particular, whether it was before or after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) flew nearly 150 military aircraft, including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone over a four-day period, the largest incursion ever by the Chinese military. Moreover, it is unclear to what ‘Taiwan agreement’ between the United States and China President Biden was referring—whether he merely meant America’s longstanding policy towards Taiwan and China, respectively, or some new undisclosed agreement or understanding on Taiwan between Washington and Beijing,” the senators wrote.

 

The full text of the letter can be found here.

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