TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —  Three US lawmakers on Thursday urged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to meet with President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) during his expected stopovers in the US en route to Paraguay.

Representatives Tom Tiffany, Chris Smith, and Andy Ogles noted that Rubio, as a senator in 2018, sponsored legislation encouraging senior US officials to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts. They said Lai’s likely transits through New York and Texas next month present a key opportunity to act on that policy.

A meeting with Lai, they argued, would highlight the strength of US-Taiwan ties and support Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts in the region. It would also send a strong signal that “Beijing’s outrageous meddling in American foreign policy is both unwelcome and unacceptable.”

The lawmakers said the global landscape has changed dramatically since the 1970s. “Taiwan has become a vibrant, multi-party democracy, while Communist China has become more oppressive, more belligerent, and more dangerous,” said the lawmakers.

They criticized current US policy as “frozen in time” and a “hopelessly antiquated relic of the 1970s.” A direct meeting with Lai, they said, “would make it clear that this era is finally over.”