US Senator Daines rejects claims of talks with KMT leader

Republican Senator Steve Daines said he did not meet with Cheng Li-wun, the leader of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang party, during her US visit earlier this month despite Cheng’s statements to the contrary, saying she met only with members of his staff.

“She met my staff. She did not meet me,” the conservative lawmaker from Montana told the South China Morning Post on Monday.

Cheng visited Washington earlier this month as part of a broader effort to strengthen ties with US policymakers during a multi-city two-week tour that also included San Francisco, Boston and New York.

In a June 12 Facebook post, Cheng listed Daines among the lawmakers she visited in Washington, which also included Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and GOP House members from Tennessee, John Rose and Chuck Fleischmann.

“We exchanged views on topics such as US-Taiwan relations, Indo-Pacific security, regional stability, and the cross-strait situation,” she posted.

Taiwanese media outlet United Daily News also reported that Daines had focused on energy and resource security instead of cross-strait relations in his talks with Cheng.