Kildee leads congressional delegation to Taiwan

Rep. Dan Kildee and a bipartisan congressional delegation meets with President Tsai at the presidential office building in Taipei, Taiwan. | Kildee office photo

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) met with Taiwanese political and business leaders during a recent visit to the island nation.

Kildee led the three-day bipartisan congressional delegation, which also included U.S. Reps. Lisa McClain (R-Bruce Twp.) and Mark Alford (R-Mo.), were received by a host of Taiwanese leaders, including President Tsai Ing-wen, President-elect Dr. Lai Ching-te, Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaushieh Joseph Wu , Minister with Portfolio John Deng, and Legislative Yuan Vice Speaker Johnny Chiang.

 “It was an honor to visit Taiwan on a bipartisan congressional delegation,” said Kildee. “Americans and the people of Taiwan are close friends and partners who share democratic values, close people to people ties, and deep economic relationships. Our bipartisan congressional delegation held a series of high-level meetings with Taiwan’s political and business leaders to find ways to strengthen our relationship, including expanding economic investments that will benefit both the American people and people of Taiwan.”.

According to a release from Kildee’s office, a wide range of issues were discussed during the trip, including the recently passed national security supplemental bill signed into law last week by President Joe Biden. 

That bill provided a total of $95 billion in funding, of which $8.12 billion would be for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific; $60.84 billion for Ukraine; and $26.38 billion for Israel, though $9.15 billion of that total is for humanitarian assistance for Gaza and other “vulnerable populations.”

Rashida Tlaib | Andrew Roth

The four funding bills were separated out for the House vote, with all Michigan Democrats except Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), voting in favor of the Taiwan appropriation. Tlaib voted present. A request was made by Michigan Advance to her office seeking comment on why she declined to support the measure, but has yet to be returned.

Other topics discussed included expanding trade relations with Taiwan and addressing unfair trade practices by the Chinese Communist Party that hurt Michigan and American workers. 

Kildee also promoted the Michigan-Taiwan office, which was opened by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March during her five day trade trip to Taiwan and South Korea in which she promoted economic investment and helped strengthen ties between Michigan and Taiwanese semiconductor and electric vehicle industries.

Both of the trips followed last year’s passage of the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade First Agreement Implementation Act, the first agreement between the U.S. and Taiwan on important trade issues. Negotiations are expected to resume this week towards a second phase agreement.

Underscoring that was Kildee’s visit to ProLogium — a Taiwanese solid-state battery developer and manufacturer — to highlight Michigan’s growing role in electric vehicle manufacturing. Taiwan is Michigan’s fifth-largest source of imports and sixth-largest destination for exports in Asia.

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