TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday (Feb. 21) said Taiwan will continue to boost military ties with the U.S. and cooperate even more actively with American and other friendly nations to counter "authoritarian expansionism."

After a meeting with a Congressional delegation at the presidential office that day led by U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, a member of the U.S. House China Select Committee, Tsai said "Taiwan and the United States continue to bolster military exchanges." She also emphasized that "Taiwan will step up cooperation with the United States and other democratic partners to confront such global challenges as authoritarian expansionism and climate change."

Tsai did not specify what these future military exchanges would entail, but stressed that now is the time to "explore even more opportunities for cooperation" between Taiwan and the U.S. "Together, we can continue to safeguard the values of democracy and freedom and contribute to post-pandemic economic recovery," said Tsai.

Khanna (left) shakes hands with Tsai on Tuesday. (Office of President photo)

Khanna said that the purpose of his delegation's visit to Taiwan is to expand the military and defense partnership with Taiwan and to strengthen the relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan in the field of semiconductors. On Tuesday, Khanna said, "We are here to affirm the shared values between the United States and Taiwan, and commitment to democracy, commitment to freedom."

As a representative of Silicon Valley, Khanna said that he "particularly appreciated the meeting with Dr. Morris Chang [on] how we can continue to build the economic partnership on technology and also, of course, the partnership on military and defense."

The delegation's trip to Taiwan, which started on Sunday (Feb. 20), is hot on the heels of a surprise visit by Michael S. Chase, the U.S. Department of Defense's deputy assistant secretary of defense for China. On Tuesday (Feb. 21), Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and National Security Council Secretary General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) held secret security talks with Biden administration officials at the Washington headquarters of the American Institute in Taiwan.