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Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that she and other members of a congressional delegation « came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear we will not abandon our commitment » to the self-governing island.
Pelosi and her delegation landed in Taipei on Tuesday night despite repeated warnings not to visit from mainland China, which claims the island as its own territory. She is the first U.S. speaker to visit Taiwan in more than 25 years. Beijing considers any official contact with Taiwan a recognition of its democratically elected government, which the mainland’s ruling Communist Party asserts has no right to conduct foreign relations.
Minutes after Pelosi’s plane touched down at Taipei Songshan Airport in the Taiwanese capital, mainland China announced live-fire military drills around Taiwan, some of which reportedly began that night ahead of four days of exercises starting Thursday.
The military exercises will be the largest aimed at the island since 1995, when China fired missiles apparently in response to then-Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui visiting the United States.
On Wednesday, Pelosi and her delegation met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as well as other senior officials in Taipei. In a brief speech during her meeting with Tsai, the U.S. speaker conveyed the message that, « now more than ever, American solidarity with Taiwan is crucial. »
« Forty-three years ago with the Taiwan Relations Act, America made a bedrock promise to always stand with Taiwan, » Pelosi said. « And on this strong foundation, we have built a thriving partnership grounded in our shared values of self-government and self-determination focused on our mutual security interest in the region and across the world. »
« Today the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy, » she added.
