U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, center left, and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen arrive for the meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022.
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U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, center left, and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen arrive for the meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022.
AP
TAIPEI, Taiwan – US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meeting leaders in Taiwan despite warnings from China, said on Wednesday she and other members of Congress in a visiting delegation are showing that they will not abandon their commitment to this self-governing island.
“Today the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy,” she said in a brief speech during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. “America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains questionable.”
China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes any interference by Taiwanese officials with foreign governments, has announced numerous military exercises around the island and launched issued a series of scathing statements after the delegation arrived in the Taiwanese capital Taipei on Tuesday night.
Pelosi’s trip has increased US-China tensions more than visits by other members of Congress because of her senior position as leader of the House. She is the first speaker of the house to come to Taiwan in 25 years, since Newt Gingrich in 1997.
Tsai, thanking Pelosi for her decades of support for Taiwan, awarded the speaker a civilian title, Order of the Propective Clouds. She was more explicit about China’s threats in her remarks than Pelosi.
“Faced with targeted military threats, Taiwan will not back down,” Tsai said. “We will resolutely uphold the nation’s sovereignty and continue to uphold the line of defense of democracy.”
Shortly after Pelosi landed, China announced live-fire drills would begin Tuesday night and four-day drills starting Thursday in waters on all sides of the island. .
China’s air force has also sent a relatively large squadron of 21 fighters, including fighter jets, to Taiwan.
Pelosi noted that support for Taiwan is bipartisan in Congress and praised the island’s democracy.
Her focus has always been the same, she said, back to a 1991 visit to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, when she and other lawmakers held up a small pro-democracy banner, two years after a bloody military crackdown on protesters in the square.
That visit was also about human rights and what she called dangerous technology transfers to “rogue countries.”
Pelosi will visit a human rights museum in Taipei late Wednesday before she departs for South Korea, the next stop on an Asia tour that includes Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
Pelosi, who is leading the trip with five other members of Congress, met earlier on Wednesday with representatives from Taiwan’s legislature.
Tsai Chi-chang, vice-chairman of Taiwan’s legislature, said: “The visit to Taiwan by the Chairman, without fear, is the strongest defense for human rights protection and consolidation. values of democracy and freedom”.
The administration of US President Joe Biden sought to tone down the visit, insisting there was no change in the longstanding US “one China policy”, which recognizes Beijing but allows non-binding relations. official and defense relations with Taipei.
Pelosi said her delegation has “strength,” including Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Raja Krishnamoorthi from the House Intelligence Committee.
She also mentioned Rep. Suzan DelBene, who Pelosi said was instrumental in passing a $280 billion bill aimed at boosting American manufacturing and research into semiconductors — an industry that’s not without Taiwan dominates, very important for modern electronics.
Representatives Andy Kim and Mark Takano were also present in the delegation.
