TAIPEI, Taiwan — It was a message delivered in blunt terms. 

“Democracy is messy. Democracy can be hard, but it is far better to have a messy democracy than to be controlled by an authoritarian,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., told NBC News on Wednesday during a two-day visit to Taiwan.

She and three other U.S. senators arrived on the Beijing-claimed island in the midst of domestic political turmoil, as the executive cabinet said it would reject parliamentary reforms passed by the…