Craft had been scheduled to visit the island last week but ended up speaking to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen via teleconference instead, when it was canceled due to transition efforts.

China has been flying what it calls "island encirclement" drills on and off since 2016, when Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen first took office. Beijing believes Tsai, who won reelection in January, is an independence supporter.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visits army reservist troops during a training in Nanshipu, Taiwan, on March 12, 2022.

On Jan. 25, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited the northern troops of Army Airborne Special Forces, the Songshan radar station at Mt. Yangmingshan, and the Anbu Weather Station.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (L) waves at an upgraded U.S.-made F-16 V fighter as Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng looks on during a ceremony at the Chiayi Air Force in southern Taiwan on Nov. 18, 2021.

At the end of November, around American Thanksgiving, a delegation of five U.S. congressional representatives, led by House Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano, visited Taiwan and met with President Tsai Ing-wen.

The regime also blamed Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen administration for being a major “reactionary” and an “enemy” that challenges the goal of reunification.

This week, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen made a statement to confirm Beijing’s interference with democratic Taiwan’s planned vaccine purchases, saying, “As for Germany’s BioNTech, we were close to completing the contract with the original German plant

On the same day, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen confirmed with CNN the presence of U.S. troops on the island, though she refrained from using the word “stationed.”

In August 2020, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen announced the easing of the restrictions, with the measure taking effect on Jan. 1, 2021.

When pro-independence candidate Tsai Ing-wen was elected as Taiwan’s president in 2016, China accepted Gambia’s offer. In addition, Sao Tome and Principe, another small African nation, switched its diplomatic allegiance to Beijing in the same year.

Then House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen at The Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on April 5, 2023.

Why did Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen ask for US arms during Hawaii visit?

TAIPEI—Taiwan will help its hard-hit airline industry access T$50 billion ($1.6 billion) in financing, and does not rule out further economic stimulus to help during the coronavirus outbreak, President Tsai Ing-wen said on March 19.

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar (L) looks on as Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen (R) speaks during his visit to the Presidential Office in Taipei on Aug. 10, 2020.

The Chinese regime, which views the self-ruled island as part of its territory, has blocked Taiwan's participation in the body since President Tsai Ing-wen was first elected in 2016.

People engage in scuffles outside Grand Hyatt hotel, where Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen is supposed to stay during her visit to New York City, U.S., on July 11, 2019.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen (center) and assembled naval personnel take part in a ceremony to commission two Perry-class guided missile frigates from the United States into the Taiwan Navy, in the southern port of Kaohsiung on Nov. 8, 2018.

TAIPEI—Two days of Chinese military aircraft approaching Taiwan demonstrate that Beijing is a threat to the entire region and have shown Taiwanese even more clearly the true nature of the Chinese communist regime, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Sunday

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen waves as she leaves for the Caribbean from Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan on July 11, 2019 (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP) Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, speaking in New York on Friday, said that

Craft had been scheduled to begin her three-day trip on Jan. 13 and was to meet the island’s president Tsai Ing-wen.

President Tsai Ing-wen encouraged the public to buy Taiwan pineapples in a bid to stand against CCP bullying. Japan joined in, with the Fuji News Network (FNN) running the headline, "Let's Eat Taiwan Pineapples.”

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen attends a campaign ahead of the presidential election in Changhua, Taiwan on Jan. 7, 2020.

TAIPEI—Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on May 27 pledged to draw up a plan to give humanitarian relief to people involved in pro-democracy protests in Taiwan's most concrete intervention since a renewal of unrest in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong.

While the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has consistently taken a tough stand against Beijing, her opposition in the Kuomintang (KMT) party attempted to increase engagement with the mainland for years.

Its members met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, and other top Taiwanese officials, according to Taiwan’s state-owned Central News Agency (CNA).

There’s also a netizen who made a comparison to the day on May 20 when Taiwanese president Tsai was sworn in for a second term: “On the day President Tsai Ing-wen was inaugurated, a typhoon that was about to land had disappeared, and even the rainy season

It has routinely sent bombers and other aircraft close to the island since President Tsai Ing-wen first took office in 2016. Beijing believes Tsai is pushing for the island's formal independence.

President Tsai Ing-wen, meeting with the senators, expressed gratitude to the Biden administration for including Taiwan in the first group to receive vaccines and said the doses will arrive at a critical time for the island.

Maloney met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Oct. 7, during which Tsai thanked the U.S. Congress for “always le[ading] the charge in supporting Taiwan” with bills and resolutions, according to an Oct. 7 press release.