TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — U. S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan Tuesday night, placing the top high-ranking U. S. official in 25 years on the autonomous island claimed by China, which temporarily announced it would hold military maneuvers in retaliation for its presence.
Taiwan’s foreign minister and other Taiwanese and U. S. officials greeted Pelosi on the tarmac at Taipei International Airport. This has increased tensions between China and the United States because China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and the prospects of foreign government officials such as the island’s popularity. sovereignty.
The speaker, who had arrived aboard a U. S. Air Force plane, had arrived on board. The U. S. government has sought for decades to draw attention to China’s democratic movements. He visited Tiananmen Square in 1991, two years after China began a wave of anti-democracy protests.
Biden’s management has not explicitly suggested to Pelosi that she cancel her plans. He has publicly confided in Beijing that the scale in will not mark any change in U. S. policy on Taiwan.
Shortly after Pelosi’s arrival, China announced a series of military operations and exercises, which followed promises of “firm and firm measures” if Pelosi made it to the end of her visit.
The People’s Liberation Army said the maneuvers would take position from Tuesday night in the waters and skies near Taiwan and would include long-range munitions fired into the Taiwan Strait.
“This action is a solemn deterrent that opposes the recent primary escalation of negative U. S. moves on the Taiwan issue, and a serious warning to the ‘independence’ forces of Taiwan’s ‘independence. ‘
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the military plans to conduct live-fire drills Aug. 4-7 at several locations. In a symbol published through the news agency, the trainings will be held in six other spaces in the waters surrounding Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington’s betrayal “over the Taiwan factor is ruining its national credibility. “
“Some U. S. politicians are betting with fire on the Taiwan issue,” Wang said in a statement. the world. “
Back in the United States, 26 Republican lawmakers issued rare bipartisan aid to the Democratic president. The trips of members of Congress called routine to Taiwan.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he saw Pelosi’s scale as a sign of Taiwanese democracy and said any accusation that her leadership was provocative was “totally absurd. “
“I think she has any and all rights to leave,” McConnell said in a speech to the Senate.
In a statement released shortly after her arrival, Pelosi said the scale in “honors America’s unwavering commitment to support Taiwan’s colorful democracy. “
“Ours is one of many congressional delegations to Taiwan, and that in no way contradicts long-standing U. S. policy,” he said.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry declined to say whether Pelosi would surrender. It has not been officially announced in advance.
Barricades were erected in front of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei. Journalists and onlookers filled the streets and crowded in front of the hotel lobby windows as they waited for Pelosi’s motorcade. Two buildings in the capital lit up LED screens with words of welcome, adding the iconic Taipei 101 building, which read “Welcome to Taiwan, Speaker Pelosi. “
China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province that will be forcibly annexed if necessary, warned it opposes retaliation and said its military will “never sit idly by. “
“The United States and Taiwan agreed to make provocations first, and China was only forced to act in self-defense,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing.
Shortly after Pelosi’s arrival, a representative of the Standing Committee of the Chinese legislature said the holiday “seriously violated” the “one-China principle,” which is Beijing’s claim to be the sole government of mainland China and Taiwan.
Threats from China’s military have raised concerns about a new crisis in the 140-kilometer (100-mile) wide Taiwan Strait that could disrupt global markets and supply chains.
The White House on Monday denounced Beijing’s rhetoric, saying the United States had no interest in deepening tensions with China and would “take the bait or indulge in saber rattling. “
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby under pressure that Taiwan’s resolution finally falls to Pelosi.
Kirby said management officials feared Beijing could use the conflict as an excuse to take provocative retaliatory measures, adding the army’s action.
“Simply put, there is no explanation as to why Beijing turns a perspective in line with long-standing U. S. policy into some kind of crisis or uses it as a pretext to develop competitive military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait,” Kirby said.
U. S. officials said the U. S. military would strengthen its movements in the Indo-Pacific region on Pelosi’s visit. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike organization were in the Philippine Sea on Monday, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss army operations.
The Reagan, the cruiser USS Antietam and the destroyer USS Higgins departed Singapore after a stopover and headed north towards their homeport in Japan. The carrier has a diversity of aircraft, adding F/A-18 fighter jets and helicopters, as well as radar systems and other weapons.
Taiwan and China seceded in 1949 after the Communists won a civil war on the mainland. The United States has casual relations and defensive ties with Taiwan, though it recognizes Beijing as China’s government.
Beijing sees official U. S. contact. The U. S. with Taiwan as a stimulus to make the island’s decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step that U. S. leaders have taken to make permanent. The U. S. says they don’t support. Pelosi, head of one of the 3 branches of the U. S. government. U. S. Elected Official Since President Newt Gingrich in 1997.
Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 said Pelosi’s plane, an Air Force edition of the Boeing 737, was the most followed in the world Tuesday night with 300,000 spectators. The plane took a detoured route, flying east over Indonesia than directly over the South China Sea.
Pelosi has used her position to be an Emissary of the United States on the world stage. He has long challenged China on human rights, adding that in 2009, when he personally delivered a letter to then-President Hu Jintao calling for the release of imprisoned politicians. He had sought democracy on the island of Taiwan this year before testing positive for COVID-19.
China has increased diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan. China cut off all contact with the Taiwanese government in 2016 after President Tsai Ing-wen refused to back up her claim that the island and mainland combined form a single Chinese nation, with the communist regime in Beijing being the only valid government.
Pelosi kicked off her Asian excursion in Singapore on Monday. He is scheduled to travel to Japan and South Korea later this week.
Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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