'US Politicians Using Taiwan As Pawn’: China Slams Indiana Governor's Visit To Taipei As ‘Toxic Trend'

This is the second such visit by the US delegation after the short trip of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that angered China and set off military tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

New Delhi: China has expressed its outrage over Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb’s visit to Taiwan after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei earlier this month which had left Beijing already fumigated. Holcomb reached the self-governing island nation, which China considers to be its own part, on Sunday to hold talks with the nation's leadership amid increasing tensions along the Taiwan Strait, reported news agency ANI. 

This is the second such visit by the US delegation after the short trip of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that angered China and set off military tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

Reacting to Holcomb’s visit, Chinese state media said that this visit “shows a toxic trend of US politicians using Taiwan as a pawn after Pelosi’s provocative visit to this island earlier this month,” quoted by the news agency. 

"I landed in Taipei to kick off an economic development trip in Taiwan & South Korea. Indiana's home to 10 Taiwanese and 12 South Korean businesses. This week marks my 2nd trip to South Korea as Governor & I'm proud to be the first governor to visit Taiwan since before the pandemic," Holcomb tweeted.

"Our delegation will spend this week meeting with government officials, business leaders and academic institutions to further strengthen Indiana's economic, academic and cultural connections with Taiwan and South Korea," he said in another tweet.

As per the news agency citing a report by the Global Times, China will keep its own pace on solving the Taiwan question, to perfect the already normalised operations across the Taiwan Strait to prepare to launch operations at any possible time. 

"Holcomb's visit is apparently a toxic sequel following the visit made by Pelosi, who encouraged US politicians to believe that since her visit has intensified the tensions across the Taiwan Straits, others can exploit such tensions to achieve their personal political gains and show their presence," Lu Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.