TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A U.S. House special committee on China is in discussions to send a delegation to Taiwan, Nikkei reported on Sunday (Feb. 12).

Representative Rob Wittman and a senior member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party told the outlet that they and other members of the committee are looking into the possibility of a trip to Taiwan.

“We know that will infuriate the Chinese,” Wittman told Nikkei. “But I think it’s incredibly important for us to do that, because you have to send the signal that we’re strongly on the side of Taiwan.”

While the scheduling of the trip still needs to be discussed, the delegation could hold a field hearing in Taiwan, Wittman added. The select committee, which will start activities at the end of February, cannot approve laws, but will look at China through the lens of national security, the economy, and human rights and will make policy recommendations on China to other House committees, Nikkei said.

The China select committee is also planning other trips to Asia besides Taiwan. Wittman said a delegation will visit Southeast Asia around the end of March, and that Japan could also be a possible destination.

In addition, Representative Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is slated to lead a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in the spring, per the report. “The chairman is definitely planning a trip to Asia focused on shoring up our important alliances in the Indo-Pacific,” an aide told the outlet, adding “And he is hopeful that will include a trip to Taiwan.”

Meanwhile, a U.S. defense official told the outlet that military tensions around Taiwan would ramp up with each congressional visit.