Authors: Huizhong Wu, Ailing Wu and Lisa Mascaro
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late on Aug. 2, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit an autonomous island claimed by China in 25 years. China soon announced that it would conduct military operations in retaliation for her presence.
Pelosi, aboard a U.S. Air Force passenger plane, was greeted by Taiwan’s foreign minister and other Taiwanese and U.S. officials on the tarmac at Taipei International Airport. She poses for a photo before her motorcade leads people she can’t see into a hotel parking lot.
Her visit has heightened tensions between the U.S. and China, as China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and sees visits by foreign government officials as a recognition of sovereignty over the island.
The Biden administration and Pelosi said the U.S. remains committed to the so-called one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows for informal and defense ties with Taipei.
The speaker sees the trip as part of a wider mission at a time when “the world faces a choice between authoritarianism and democracy.” Her visit comes after she led a congressional delegation to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in the spring, a cornerstone of her years of promoting democracy abroad.
“We must support Taiwan,” she said in a Washington Post opinion piece about her arrival in Taiwan. She cited the United States’ commitment to democratic Taiwan under the 1979 law.
“The United States and our allies must make it clear that we will never submit to a dictator,” she wrote.
Taiwan and China were divided in a civil war in 1949, but China claims the island as its own and has not ruled out using force to occupy it.
The Biden administration has not explicitly urged Pelosi to cancel her plan. It has repeatedly and publicly assured Beijing that the visit does not signify any change in U.S. policy toward Taiwan.
Shortly after Pelosi’s arrival, China announced a series of military operations and exercises and pledged to take “resolute and forceful measures” if Pelosi visits China.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington’s “betrayal on the Taiwan issue is undermining its national credibility”.
“Some American politicians are playing with fire on the Taiwan issue,” Wang said in a statement, calling the United States “the world’s biggest peace breaker.”
Pelosi’s itinerary was not officially announced in advance.
Barricades set up outside the Grand Hyatt Taipei. Reporters and bystanders huddled on the street outside, pressed against hotel lobby windows as they waited for Pelosi’s motorcade. Two buildings in the capital were illuminated with LED displays for welcome messages, including the iconic Taipei 101 building, which read “Welcome to Taiwan, Speaker Pelosi.”
China’s military threat has raised fears of a new crisis in the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait that could disrupt global markets and supply chains.
The White House insists that China has no legitimate reason to be angry.
“The United States does not seek and does not want a crisis. Creeping,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at an Aug. 2 White House briefing.
U.S. officials said the U.S. military would increase operations in the Indo-Pacific during Pelosi’s visit. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group were in the Philippine Sea on Aug. 1, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the military operation.
USS Reagan, cruiser USS Antietam and destroyer USS Higgins left Singapore after a port visit and moved north to their homeport in Japan.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on August 3 that China had sent 21 planes to Taiwan, 18 of which were fighter jets. The rest include an early warning aircraft and an electronic warfare aircraft.
Pelosi’s plane, the Air Force version of the Boeing 737, took a circuitous route and flew east over Indonesia rather than directly over the South China Sea.
The speaker has long challenged China on human rights issues, including a trip to Tiananmen Square in 1991, two years after China cracked down on a wave of pro-democracy protests.
