Taipei [Taiwan], May 27 : US senators promised to strengthen Taiwan's deterrence against China on Monday during a bipartisan congressional visit to the self-governing island, just days after Beijing ringed the island with major military drills, according to CNN.
Last week's drills were the largest China had conducted in more than a year, and they occurred just days after Taiwan swore in its new president, Lai Ching-te.
Lai Ching Te is openly despised by Beijing for promoting the island's sovereignty and distinct character.
During a news conference in Taipei, US Representative Michael McCaul, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, described the exercises as a "intimidation tactic to punish democracy" and promised to strengthen Taiwan's defence by expediting the supply of defensive weaponry from the US, CNN reported.
McCaul pledged that Taiwan would get the weapons it purchased from the US "as soon as possible," citing recent foreign military financing for Taiwan approved by the US House.
"We are moving forward on those weapons systems. I'd like to see them faster, but they are forthcoming," he said.
"President Lai and I have always had a very sobering and yet very direct conversation about the threat that this island faces from its neighbour to the north," McCaul said, referring to China, according to CNN.
The US maintains strong but informal relations with Taiwan and is required by law to provide the island with weapons to protect itself.
Despite never having governed Taiwan, China's governing Communist Party considers it part of its territory and has threatened to conquer it by force if necessary. China's military began two days of drills last Thursday, dispatching warships and fighter aircraft around Taiwan and its outlying islands in what it described as "a strong punishment for separatist acts by Taiwan independence forces,"CNN reported.
It said the drills were intended to test its capacity to "seize power" over the island.
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