Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen met with US senators in Washington DC on Tuesday. During the meeting, Tsai discussed Taiwan’s integration into the regional economy, bilateral military cooperation and the future of US-Taiwan ties.
Tsai said that having a diversity of trade partners is one key to maintaining Taiwan’s sovereignty. She said that she would like to see Taiwan strengthen trade ties with the US and join the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Tsai told Senator John McCain that she hopes he will help strengthen US-Taiwan military exchanges and defense industry ties to boost Taiwan’s defensive capabilities.
McCain said that he will work to include Taiwan in more military exercises and will support Taiwan’s development of asymmetric combat capabilities. Meanwhile, Senator Dan Sullivan said that he affirms the democratic values that Tsai wrote about in a recent opinion piece that was published in the Wall Street Journal.