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A staunch defender of human rights and long-time China critic, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to meet rights activists in Taiwan on Wednesday, a move certain to ramp up already fraught tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Among those she will meet are a Hong Kong bookseller who fled to the self-ruled island in 2019, a former Tiananmen demonstrator and a Taiwanese activist recently released by China, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
China has condemned Pelosi’s visit to the democratic island that Beijing claims as its own, responding with increased military activity in surrounding waters and by summoning the U.S. ambassador in Beijing.
Bookstore owner Lam Wing-kee hopes Pelosi can help Hong Kongers who are afraid to return to their city amid fears they will be persecuted under a sweeping national security law.
“I want to discuss with her whether there is a possibility for the U.S. government to help those who cannot return to Hong Kong and who may not be able to obtain identity cards in Taiwan, to help them to go to the United States,” Lam told Reuters.
