TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) is set to visit Taiwan’s Taiping Island on May 16 with a delegation of other KMT and Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.

The group plans to fly to the island from Pingtung Air Force Base aboard a C-130 plane. Once on the island, the lawmakers will inspect defense facilities and hardware before returning to Pingtung the same day, CNA reported.

Those who have already signed up for the trip include Legislative Deputy Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), legislators Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), Huang Jen (黃仁), and Lin Yi-chun (林憶君).

Lawmakers have urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to visit the island to reaffirm Taiwan’s sovereignty over it. However, both National Security Bureau Director General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) have warned against such a trip.

A visit at this time could be perceived as creating tension, thus affecting Taiwan’s foreign relations, Tsai said. The high degree of militarization in the South China Sea also provides security concerns about the president’s flight to the island, he said.

Wu said that due of regional tension, particularly between China and the Philippines, it would be inappropriate for the president to be traveling there at this time. The government needed to make clear it was not a troublemaker amid rising tension, he added.