Pompeo heads to Taiwan as rival US groups offer backing

Bloomberg

Taiwan’s government is juggling competing high-profile visits from the US in a busy week of diplomacy as Washington sends a delegation to democratically run Taipei just before a trip by former secretary of state Michael Pompeo.
President Tsai Ing-wen met a bipartisan group led by former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen in the Presidential Office on Wednesday, a US show of support amid growing pressure from an increasingly assertive China and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a press briefing attended by Mullen and the other members of his delegation, Tsai said the visit “demonstrates the importance the US places on our bilateral partnership and reflects our rock-solid ties.”
“More importantly, your visit highlights Taiwan’s key role in regional and global security, and the need for the international democratic community to be even more united,” said Tsai, who’s been in power since 2016.
Tsai will also host a dinner reception for the group Wednesday evening at about the same time Pompeo lands on his visit in a private capacity at the invitation of a think tank.
Pompeo, one of the Trump administration’s most vocal advocates for a more confrontational policy toward China, is scheduled to meet Tsai and other political leaders, and give a speech at an event organized by the Prospect Foundation on Friday.
The trip by the group led by Mullen was arranged within a day or two of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Taipei-based Liberty Times reported, citing Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. It was also timed to overshadow Pompeo’s arrival and reinforce the message that he does not speak for Washington, the United Daily News said in a commentary.
Tsai last week dismissed concern over a crisis erupting in Asia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has long had security concerns similar to Taiwan. She did warn the island’s population of some 23 million to be wary of “external forces” using fake information about the war in eastern Europe to sow panic about a possible threat.