TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Seven U.S. congressmen on Thursday (June 15) signed a letter calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to make a stopover in Taiwan during his trip to China.

According to the U.S. State Department, Blinken is scheduled to travel to Beijing and London from June 16-21. His trip to China was originally scheduled for February but was postponed due to the Chinese spy balloon incident.

On Thursday, seven U.S. House representatives led by Tom Tiffany composed a letter calling on Blinken to make a stopover in Taiwan as part of his itinerary. They argued that a Taiwan trip would be consistent with the intent of the Taiwan Travel Act, which makes it U.S. policy to encourage high-ranking White House officials to travel to Taiwan and meet with their Taiwanese counterparts.

They said this would present Blinken with an opportunity to "publicly address concerns about widely reported delays in the delivery of U.S. weapons systems to Taiwan." The congressmen said that some of these sales had been approved as long ago as 2019 and are "critical to Taiwan's defensive capabilities."

They closed by saying that a trip to Taiwan would send a message that the U.S. "does not need a permission slip from the Chinese Communist Party to meet with our friends and allies in Taiwan — or anywhere else."

In addition to Tiffany, six other Republican House representatives also signed the letter.