Live updates: Nancy Pelosi departs Taiwan, ending contentious visit that angered China

More than two dozen Republican senators, led by Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), have issued a statement in support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) high-profile stop in Taiwan during a diplomatic tour to Asia.

“For decades, members of the United States Congress, including previous Speakers of the House, have traveled to Taiwan,” the senators said in a statement, adding that such travel is “consistent with the United States’ One China policy to which we are committed.”

The senators said they are “also committed now, more than ever, to all elements of the Taiwan Relations Act” — which Pelosi on Tuesday referred to as one of the most important pillars of U.S. foreign policy in the Asia Pacific.

The 1979 act states, “The United States will make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities.”

Cramer and Sullivan were joined by 24 other GOP senators in issuing the rare statement supporting Pelosi, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), and Sens. John Thune (S.D.), James M. Inhofe (Okla.), James E. Risch (Idaho), Roy Blunt (Mo.), John Cornyn (Tex.), John Barrasso (Wyo.), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), Steve Daines (Mont.), Susan Collins (Maine), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Todd C. Young (Ind.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Rob Portman (Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va,), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Richard Burr (N.C.), John Boozman (Ark.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.).

Source: WP