‘You are an Embarrassment’: GOP Senator Mocked Online for Referring to Taiwanese as ‘Taiwans’
14:18 GMT 26.08.2022 (Updated: 12:45 GMT 19.06.2023)
© AP Photo / Susan Walsh
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Marsha Blackburn’s trip to Taiwan is Washington’s third high-level visit to the island this month. Besides the controversial visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a delegation of US lawmakers led by Democratic Senator Ed Markley was also in Taipei recently.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn has become the butt of online jokes after she referred to the people of Taiwan as “Taiwans” rather than Taiwanese. The error was made in a social media post on Friday.
Blackburn, a senator from Tennessee, is on a three-day visit to Taiwan which kicked off on Thursday.
“I will continue to stand with the Taiwans and their right to freedom and democracy,” Blackburn wrote on Twitter, drawing ridicule on the social networking site.
“Marsha, they are Taiwanese. You’re an embarrassment as a sitting Senator,” wrote a social media user.
Another Twitter user questioned how she could “stand with people but not even call them by their correct name”. “It's the ‘Taiwanese people’,” the user reminded the senator.
Reactions to US Senator's Taiwan visit
© Photo : Twitter
Yet another social media user questioned the motive of the US senator in standing up for "freedom and democracy,” a reference to previous US military interventions in foreign countries.
When the American Empire talks about freedom and democracy, suddenly there is a strong smell of bombs and napalm in the air.#TheEmpireOfLies https://t.co/GjowNyj7OT pic.twitter.com/GS2OPaaa2p
— Marce〰️Vann〰️ (@MarceVann) August 26, 2022
Blackburn Refers to Taiwan as a Country'
Blackburn not only faced ridicule for her social media post, but she also wrongly referred to Taiwan as a “country” during her meeting with Taiwanese chief Tsai Ing-wen on Friday.
The Biden administration and the global community have regularly affirmed their commitment to the One-China Policy, most recently this month after the contentious visit of US House Speaker to Nancy Pelosi to the island.
Blackburn told Tsai that she looked forward to continuing to help support the people of Taiwan as "they push forward as an independent nation,” as per a video posted on Twitter.
Thank you, @iingwen, for your strong leadership in standing up against the Chinese Communist Party.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) August 26, 2022
The United States supports Taiwan and its freedom-loving people. pic.twitter.com/hNGADUk1ZJ
In the lead-up to the meeting with Tsai, Blackburn criticized Beijing by asserting that the Chinese Communist Party was “not going to set the foreign policy for the United States of America”.
“They are not going to be able to bully [a] free and independent nation. These are these are things that are important,” she remarked in a media interview.
Beijing opposes official contact between foreign governments or lawmakers and Taiwanese government representatives, and has regularly warned Washington that such visits could disturb the foundations of Sino-US ties.
In the wake of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, Beijing rejected external “interference” in the Taiwan question and vowed to “reunify” the renegade province.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted its largest-ever live-fire and ballistic missile drills in response to Pelosi’s visit this month.
Last week, the Chinese Defense Ministry said that it would continue to carry out these exercises to safeguard Beijing’s territorial integrity after Markley landed in Taiwan.
On Friday, PLA Eastern Theater Command began another round of live-fire drills off the coast of Fujian province in the Taiwan Strait.
