A delegation of United States senators announced plans to donate 750,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan after a brief visit to the island on Sunday.

The bipartisan delegation of Tammy Duckworth, Dan Sullivan and Chris Coons arrived at Taipei’s Songshan airport at 7:19 a.m. They were greeted by Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and later met with President Tsai Ing-wen.

“We are here as friends, because we know that Taiwan is experiencing a challenging time right now, which was why it was especially important for the three of us to be here in a bipartisan way,” Duckworth said.

“It was critical to the United States that Taiwan be included in the first group to receive vaccines, because we recognise your urgent need, and we value this partnership.”

Tsai told the senators that the vaccines were “timely rain” for Taiwan. “Your assistance will be etched on our hearts,” she said. Tsai thanked the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who last week announced that America would donate 25 million vaccine doses to countries in need.

Wu stressed the importance of delivering the “life-saving medicine free from Beijing’s interference.”

During the meeting with Tsai, Sullivan was spotted wearing a face mask with the words “Love from Taiwan.”

In a rare move, the senators arrived in Taiwan on a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III freighter instead of on a private jet.

On Sunday, China’s Global Times tabloid said the senators’ visit was political theater to bolster Tsai’s administration. Its editor-in-chief Hu Xijin mocked a photo of Tsai standing to give a speech while the U.S. senators remained seated, saying that it was a “loss of face” for the Taiwanese people.

Some mainland Chinese netizens revisited a Global Times editorial published last year which said that landing a U.S. military plane in Taiwan would “start a war in the Taiwan Strait.”

Despite its early success in containing COVID-19, Taiwan has recorded more than 10,000 infections in the past month and has been struggling to vaccinate its population of 23 million. Last Friday, Taiwan received 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine from Japan — a donation that drew criticism from China.

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