Pelosi, together with the Speaker of the Malaysian Parliament, Azhar Azizan Harun /
The Speaker of the House of Representatives ignores threats from Beijing, which has deployed warships as a measure of pressure
The president of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, landed in Taiwan on Tuesday at 10:40 p.m. local time (4:40 p.m. in Spain). Television images showed the 82-year-old legislator upon her arrival at Taipei’s Songshan airport, where she was received by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
The third US authority thus complies with what has been announced in recent days and makes the first visit to the island by a high-ranking US representative since 1997 (the last was Republican Newt Gingrich in 1997, with Bill Clinton in the White House).
Pelosi’s landing in Taiwan is a challenge to China, which had threatened “forceful measures” against the eventual visit. The Democratic leader is making a tour of Asia in recent days, which has taken her, among other places, to visit Singapore or Malaysia, from where she has taken off to Taipei, the capital of the Chinese island.
“President Pelosi, welcome to Taiwan. Thanks. TW loves the USA» read, in Chinese and English, a message projected on the facade of Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taiwan, to receive the congressional delegation.
military tension
In recent hours, Beijing has deployed warships and carried out military maneuvers in the South China Sea, near the Taiwan Strait, as a coercive measure in the face of a possible visit by Pelosi. For its part, the US has positioned four military ships in the area, including the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. Meanwhile, Taipei has ordered its armed forces to be ready for combat since Tuesday.
China’s Defense Ministry also warned last week that the People’s Liberation Army “will not sit idly by.” He did so before Chinese and US leaders Xi Jinping and Joe Biden had a phone conversation.
The scenario that opens from now on is uncertain. Beijing considers Pelosi’s stop in Taiwan a serious affront, since in practice it is a boost to Taiwan’s independence aspirations with respect to mainland China. Beijing considers the island part of its territory.
Since they re-established ties in 1979, relations between the US and China, the two largest world powers, have been based on the “One China” principle, which means that Washington recognizes Beijing as the representative of the Asian giant. However, the status of Taiwan would not be defined, which allows the US to maintain a “strategic ambiguity” with the island, so that it can provide military support if necessary, as Biden himself has acknowledged on several occasions.
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