US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Taiwan for a visit. Your plane landed in the capital Taipei on Tuesday evening (local time). The top politician ignored warnings from China, which sees the democratic island as part of the People’s Republic.
After US politician Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan, China accused the government in Washington of “playing with fire”. The US actions in Taiwan are “extremely dangerous,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday evening (local time). “Whoever plays with fire will perish,” the ministry said. A little later, Beijing threatened “targeted military action”. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army is on high alert and will respond with a series of targeted military actions,” a Defense Ministry spokesman said in Beijing on Tuesday evening.
China has announced target practice maneuvers in six sea areas around the democratic island republic. According to state television, the Ministry of Defense in Beijing announced that the maneuvers will begin this Tuesday and should last until Sunday. The maneuvers served as “a serious deterrent to the recent escalation of negative US moves on the Taiwan issue and a grave warning to pro-independence forces that want secession,” the spokesman said. It is about repelling “the interference of foreign forces and separatist attempts by independence forces in Taiwan”.
Upon her arrival, Pelosi said that her visit underscored the “US unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy.” “America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important now than ever as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.” Pelosi is visiting Taiwan despite warnings from Chinese leaders.
Tensions with China notwithstanding, the visit to Taiwan is widely welcomed. The stay is considered an appreciation of the democratic island republic. In Taipei, it was also seen as a setback for Beijing, which is trying to isolate Taiwan internationally. Cross-party Taiwanese parliamentarians welcomed the 82-year-old. Kuomintang opposition MP Chen Yi-hsin expressed hope that Beijing would not “overreact”. Pelosi represents the US Congress and people, but not US President Joe Biden, he told the CNA news agency. Her visit does not represent a change in the US’s “one China policy,” which recognizes Beijing as China’s only legitimate government.
Ruling Progressive Party (DPP) MP Wang Tingyu expects Beijing to take some “disruptive actions”. However, he does not expect a reaction that could trigger a conflict with the USA. Secretary-General of the Taiwan Human Rights Association Shih Yi-hsiang said the visit was a “signal that we should deepen democracy and human rights and oppose the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarianism.”
