The plane carrying the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosilanded at 10:43 p.m. local time (2:43 p.m. GMT) at Taipei’s Songshan airport, beginning a visit against which Beijing had announced retaliation.
According to the report of EphUpon her arrival and after a seven-hour trip that began in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and in which she dodged the South China Sea and flew over Indonesia and the Philippines, Pelosi was received by the island’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu Chao-hsieh and by the director of the American Institute of Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk.
Our visit reiterates that America stands with Taiwan: a robust, vibrant democracy and our important partner in the Indo-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/2sSRJXN6ST
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 2, 2022
Pelosi declared on Twitter after landing that her visit “honors the United States’ unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy.” He added that his trip “does not contradict the long-held policies of the United States” and that his country “opposes unilateral efforts to alter the status quo.”
This is the first visit by a US House Speaker to Taiwan since 1997, when Republican Newt Gingrich visited the island.
On Tuesday night, shortly before Pelosi’s plane landed, Taipei’s tallest skyscraper, Taipei 101, was lit up with messages addressed to the US official such as “Welcome to Taiwan”, “Thanks to our democratic friend” , “The friendship between the United States and Taiwan will always be firm” and “Let us protect the international order together”. Legislators from the island expressed their welcome to the president of the US House of Representatives.
Shortly before Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan, Chinese state media reported the crossing of the Taiwan Strait by Chinese SU-35 military aircraft, without further details being provided for the time being.
This Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry assured that it is “difficult to imagine a more reckless and provocative action” by the United States than this visit, about which the Chinese Army recently warned that it would not “stand idly by”.
China claims sovereignty over the island and considers Taiwan a rebellious province since the Kuomintang nationalists withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists, the agency said.
With information from Eph.
