US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has touched down in Taiwan, sparking a diplomatic storm with a furious China.
| US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has landed in Taipei and will meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, defying Beijing’s warning thatMs Pelosi is the highest-ranking American politician in 25 years to visit Taiwan. China regards the self-governing island as part of its territory, insists reunification is inevitable, and is increasingly aggravated by what it views as a swing by Washington towards supporting Taiwan’s independence.
“I think the Chinese have a special dislike for Nancy Pelosi and that may be a factor in the very strong response,” Ms Glaser said. “I think China may also believe that President Biden could have intervened to stop this visit.”The public displays of acrimony are bad enough; more dangerous is the danger China will take action that it does not believe is escalatory but the United States views differently, Ms Glaser said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said it was “certainly not unofficial behaviour” when “the third-highest ranking figure in the US government, flies on a US military plane to make a provocative visit to the Taiwan region. She added any countermeasures from Beijing would be “justified” in response to such “unscrupulous behaviour.”On Monday China’s UN Ambassador, Zhang Jun, described the visit as “dangerous and provocative”. Russia has also weighed in.
“As a country, we should not be intimidated by the rhetoric or those potential actions. This is an important trip for the speaker to be on, and we are going to do whatever we can to support her.”
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