Pelosi: Commitment to democracy is ‘ironclad’
TAIPEI, TAIWAN » After a trip that drew China’s wrath, a defiant Nancy Pelosi concluded her visit to Taiwan on Wednesday with a pledge that the American commitment to democracy on the selfgoverning island and elsewhere “remains ironclad.”
Pelosi was the first U.S. House speaker to visit the island in more than 25 years, and China swiftly responded by announcing multiple military exercises nearby.
The speaker’s departure for South Korea came just a day before China was scheduled to launch its largest maneuvers aimed at Taiwan in more than a quarter of a century.
Before leaving, a calm but resolute Pelosi repeated previous remarks about the world facing “a choice between democracy and autocracy.”
“America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” she said in a short speech during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
China claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes any engagement by Taiwanese officials with foreign governments.
The Biden administration, and Pelosi, have said that the United States remains committed to the so-called one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei.
Nevertheless, China issued a series of harsh statements after the American delegation touched down late Tuesday in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.
Taiwan’s Tsai pushed back firmly against Beijing’s military exercises, parts of which will enter Taiwanese waters.
“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down,” Tsai said at her meeting with Pelosi. “We will firmly uphold our nation’s sovereignty and continue to hold the line.”
The exercises, including those involving live fire, are to start Thursday and will be the biggest aimed at Taiwan since 1995, when China fired missiles in a large-scale exercise to show its displeasure over a visit by then-Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to the U.S.
In other activities, Pelosi visited a human rights museum in Taipei that details the history of the island’s martial-law era. She also met with some of Taiwan’s most prominent rights activists, including an exiled former Hong Kong bookseller who was detained by Chinese authorities, Lam Wing-kee.
Thanking Pelosi for her decades of support for Taiwan, the president presented her with a civilian honor, the Order of the Propitious Clouds.
A day earlier, China’s official Xinhua News Agency announced the military operations and showed a map outlining six different areas around Taiwan.
Arthur Zhin-Sheng Wang, a defense studies expert at Taiwan’s Central Police University, said three of the areas infringe on Taiwanese waters, meaning they are within 12 nautical miles of shore.
Using live fire in a country’s territorial airspace or waters is risky, Wang said, because under international rules of engagement, it can be seen as an act of war.
In Washington, John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, sought to tamp down fears. He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that U.S. officials “don’t believe we’re at the brink now, and there’s certainly no reason for anybody to be talking about being at the brink going forward.”