I’ve come in peace, says Pelosi
China’s military on war footing
The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said on Wednesday that her delegation had come to Taiwan in “peace for the region”, after her visit enraged Beijing and set off a diplomatic firestorm.
The trip defied a string of increasingly frenetic threats and outbursts from China, which warned the US would “pay the price” if she visited.
China views Taiwan as its territory and had warned it would consider her visit to be a major provocation.
Ms Pelosi, second in line to the presidency, is the highestprofile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
“We come in friendship to Taiwan, we come in peace to the region,” she said during a meeting with Tsai Chi-chang, the deputy speaker of Taiwan’s parliament.
As Ms Pelosi – who is on a wide-ranging tour of Asia that is also taking in several other destinations – touched down in Taipei, an apoplectic Beijing scrambled its fighter jets and announced three days of “military exercises”.
US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns was summoned by the Chinese foreign ministry and warned Washington “shall pay the price”.
“The move is extremely egregious in nature and the consequences are extremely serious,” China’s vice-foreign minister Xie Feng was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency Xinhua.
The Chinese military said it was on “high alert” and would “launch a series of targeted military actions in response” to the visit.
It announced plans for a series of military exercises in waters around the island to begin on Wednesday, including “long-range live ammunition shooting” in the Taiwan Strait.
“Those who play with fire will perish by it,” Beijing’s foreign ministry thundered.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said more than 21 Chinese military aircraft had flown on Tuesday into the island’s air defence identification zone – an area wider than its territorial airspace that overlaps with part of China’s air defence zone.
The US had moved four warships to the region ahead of Ms Pelosi’s arrival, while Taiwan has stepped up its own military alertness levels.
Taiwanese government websites were hit by cyberattacks in the hours before Ms Pelosi’s arrival and China angrily banned imports of selected food products.
China has vowed to seize self-ruled democratic Taiwan one day, by force if necessary. In the meantime, it tries desperately to keep the island isolated on the world stage and opposes countries having official dealings with Taipei.
In a call with US President Joe Biden last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Washington against “playing with fire” on Taiwan.
While the Biden administration is understood to be opposed to Ms Pelosi’s Taiwan stop, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said she was entitled to go where she pleased.
The US has said, however, that its policy towards Taiwan remains unchanged.