Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, said he supports Taiwan weapons sales and Taiwan “independence” — the latter declaration going further than official US policy:

“I support Taiwan and I support their independence and I support the weapons sales.”

Asked whether Trump should say the US would support Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Scott responded: “I’m not going to suggest what he should do. I’d support them.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he supports sending defensive arms to Taiwan but argued the US should draw the line at going to war with China to protect the island:

“I think going to war with China over Taiwan would be insane. … I have no problem providing them with defensive weaponry, though. And China shouldn’t worry about it — shouldn’t have any problem with that, either. Why would you object to somebody being able to defend themselves?”

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., an Armed Services panel member and retired US Navy captain, said the US should be prepared to fight a war with China — but maintain so-called “strategic ambiguity” about coming to Taiwan’s defense under a hypothetical Chinese attack:

“I think it is in our best interest to be able to face any adversary we have with our military at any moment. Whether we would ever make a decision to come to Taiwan’s defense, our policy there has been we don’t talk about that, so I’m not going to get into that aspect of it. But we should equip and train our forces in a way that we would be successful against China, Russia, or both — or anybody else, for that matter.”