Yew Lun Tian, Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI/BEIJING /Reuters – President Joe Biden sent a delegation of senior U.S. security and defense officials to Taipei, where they were detained by China. The visit took place during Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

Mike Mullen was once chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This is a period when Taiwan has been more vigilant than usual, afraid that China might take advantage of an unfocused West to attack it.

Beijing has claimed ownership of the democratically managed island and has made it a promise to subdue it by force.

Mullen, an ex-Navy admiral and former U.S. Military Officer under the former Presidents George W. Bush & Barack Obama is being accompanied Meghan O’Sullivan (a former deputy national Security Advisor under Bush) and Michele Flournoy. Flournoy was a former Undersecretary for Defense under Obama.

Evan Medeiros and Mike Green, former senior Asian directors of the National Security Council, will also be on the trip. This is to demonstrate our support for Taiwan, a U.S. official said to Reuters.

They arrived in Taipei’s Songshan airport by private aircraft and were greeted by Joseph Wu (Taiwan Foreign Minister).

The two will meet with President Tsai-Ing-wen Wednesday. On the same day, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will also be arriving, but he’s coming as an individual and private citizen.

China considers Taiwan the most important and sensitive issue in their ties to the United States. Any high-level interaction with Washington is a disturbance.

The Chinese people are determined to protect their country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and sovereignty. Wang Wenbin from the Chinese Foreign Ministry spoke out about Taiwan’s visit, saying that “whoever America sends to support Taiwan is bound for failure.”

On Tuesday, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng Chang told reporters that his trip demonstrated “the importance both the Taiwan-U.S. relations and Taiwan’s situation” along with the strong U.S. support.

He added, “It’s very good,”

They flew from Washington via Anchorage to make an extraordinary arrival. After flying down Japan’s Ryukyu Islands, they turned north and approached Taipei from Taiwan’s northeast coast. This was according to FlightRadar24 data.

Their normal route of travel takes them over the East China Sea.

A U.S. Warship navigated through Taiwan Strait on Saturday. This was part of routine U.S. activity that China called “provocative” but the U.S. military called it.

Wang went even further Tuesday by using stronger terms.

He said that if the United States wants to pressure China by this, then they need to inform them that the Great Wall steel forging by over 1.4 billion Chinese citizens is a formidable military deterrent.

The gimmick that a U.S. warship could sail through Taiwan Strait is not something to be taken seriously by those who believe in hegemony.