US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday said her delegation had arrived in Taiwan in “peace for the region” after a visit that angered Beijing and sparked a diplomatic firestorm.
She landed in Taiwan late on Tuesday, despite a series of increasingly harsh warnings and threats from China, which considers Taiwan its territory and has warned it will consider her visit. is a great provocation.
Pelosi, second in line to the presidency, is the highest elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
“We come for friendship with Taiwan, we come for peace for the region,” she said during a meeting with Tsai Chi-chang, vice chairman of Taiwan’s National Assembly.
When Pelosi – who is on a tour of Asia – landed on a military plane after days of feverish talk about her plans, the response from Beijing was swift.
US Ambassador Nicholas Burns was summoned late Tuesday by China’s foreign ministry and warned that Washington “will pay a price”.
“The move is extremely serious in nature, and the consequences are extremely serious,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng was quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying.
“China will not sit idly by.”
China’s military said it was on “high alert” and would “launch a series of targeted military actions in response” to the visit.
It quickly announced plans for a series of military exercises in the waters around the island that would begin on Wednesday, including “long-range live-fire” in the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing’s foreign ministry added: “Those who play with fire will be killed by it.”
Taiwan’s defense ministry said more than 21 Chinese military aircraft on Tuesday flew into the island’s air defense identification zone – an area wider than its territorial airspace that overlaps part of the receiving zone. China’s air defense.
China has vowed to take over democratic, self-governing Taiwan someday, by force if necessary.
It tries to keep the island isolated on the world stage and opposes countries that have official exchanges with Taipei.
In a phone call with US President Joe Biden last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Washington not to “play with fire” over Taiwan.
While the Biden administration is understood to oppose Pelosi’s stop in Taiwan, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said she is entitled to go where she wants.
However, the US has said that its policy has not changed towards Taiwan.
This means supporting its own government while diplomatically recognizing Beijing over Taipei, and opposing Taiwan’s formal declaration of independence or a forceful takeover by China.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
