Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana has denied meeting Cheng Li-wun, the leader of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), during her visit to the United States earlier this month. Cheng had indicated she met with Daines among other lawmakers during her Washington stop, but the senator said she only met with members of his staff.

Cheng’s two-week visit to the US, which included stops in San Francisco, Boston, New York, and Washington, aimed to bolster ties with American policymakers. On June 12, Cheng posted on Facebook that she had met with several US lawmakers in Washington, including Senator Daines, Senator Dan Sullivan, and Tennessee House Representatives John Rose and Chuck Fleischmann. She stated that discussions covered topics such as US-Taiwan relations, Indo-Pacific security, regional stability, and the cross-strait situation.

Despite Cheng’s assertions, Daines told reporters on Monday that he did not personally meet with her, explaining that his schedule prevented him from doing so. “She met my staff. She did not meet me,” he said, adding that it is common for his staff to hold meetings on his behalf during busy days. He discounted speculation that there were other reasons for not meeting her. Taiwan’s United Daily News reported that during her interaction with Daines’s staff, the focus was more on energy and resource security rather than cross-strait issues.

Attempts to obtain a response from the KMT’s representative office in Washington regarding the discrepancy were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the KMT has historically maintained that engagements with US officials are not typically publicized. The party stated that Cheng had “seen the people she wanted to see and said what she wanted to say,” without providing further details on whether she met with officials of the Trump administration or their levels.

Public meetings between US lawmakers and Taiwanese political figures remain politically sensitive. While the United States maintains unofficial but close ties with Taiwan, Washington often balances such engagements carefully to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing. The KMT’s advocacy for increased cross-strait engagement has attracted scrutiny from some US legislators and analysts, particularly following a rise in exchanges between the party and mainland Chinese officials over the past two years.

Senator Daines, who is retiring this year, has played a significant role as a diplomatic interlocutor between Washington and Beijing. In May, he led a Senate delegation to China, holding talks with Premier Li Qiang, who underscored Taiwan as a core Chinese interest and a key red line in bilateral relations. Cheng’s recent US trip was her first official visit since assuming leadership of the KMT last year.