\n<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON — <\/span>Two leading House Republicans are meeting with Taiwan\u2019s Beijing-friendly opposition leader<\/a> this week as she travels to Washington at a time when China is scrutinizing<\/a> the Trump administration’s posture toward the self-ruled island it views as its own.<\/p>\n House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., are planning to sit down with Cheng Li-wun, leader of the Kuomingtang Party, who has supported a peaceful reunification<\/a> of Taiwan with Beijing.<\/p>\n Mast, in an interview, said he didn\u2019t have specific expectations for his meeting with Cheng but said as the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, \u201cI take intelligence from anywhere I can get.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Kim, who leads a subcommittee overseeing East Asia policy, said the lawmaker plans to encourage Cheng and her party to support more defense spending because it would be an \u201cimportant demonstration of Taiwan\u2019s commitment to self-defense and deterrence.\u201d<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s opposition-controlled legislature last month passed a $25 billion special defense budget to fund major U.S. arms purchases. Trump administration officials expressed disappointment that the approved amount is a significant reduction from Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s original $40 billion proposal.<\/p>\n Kim also wants to discuss Cheng\u2019s meeting in April<\/a> with Chinese President Xi Jinping and \u201cseek greater clarity on the substance of those discussions,\u201d said Ellie Gilchrist, the lawmaker\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\n Cheng\u2019s visit to Washington comes as President Donald Trump<\/a> publicly floats the prospect that he could have a direct call with his Taiwanese counterpart. <\/p>\n The U.S. president had indicated he wanted to speak with Lai as his administration considers whether to go ahead with a $14 billion arms sale for Taipei that Congress approved earlier this year but that has since been on hold.<\/p>\n Trump said last month<\/a> as he returned to the U.S. from China that he intends to speak with Lai, which would be the first direct dialogue between sitting U.S. and Taiwanese presidents in decades. China has urged against it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll always talk to him,\u201d Trump told reporters<\/a> on Air Force One on Friday when asked whether he is still considering a phone call with Lai.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n