On Tuesday, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived on the island of Taiwan aboard U.S. military aircraft. It’s the first visit by such a high-profile US military politician and risks pushing China and the United States closer to war than in a long time.
It’s also the first time that a Speaker of the House has gone to Taiwan in the last 25 years. The last speaker to do so was Newt Gingrich. Biden warned Pelosi against going.
Pelosi plans to tour downtown Taipei and was met at the airport by Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, and Sandra Oudkirk, a U.S. representative in Taiwan. She’s expected to visit Taiwan’s presidential office and parliament on Wednesday.
“Our congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy,” Pelosi put out in a statement when she landed on the island. “America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”
Pelosi traveled to Taiwan after not announcing when she would in the midst of her Asian trip to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan.
In response, Chinese warplanes flew close to the dividing line over The Taiwanese straight between China and Taiwan and Chinese battleships have sailed closer to the line and remained there.
According to Reuters, “Four U.S. warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, were positioned in waters east of Taiwan on what the U.S. Navy called routine deployments. The carrier had transited the South China Sea and was now in the Philippines Sea, east of Taiwan and the Philippines and south of Japan, a U.S. Navy official told” the news source.
In response, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has conducted military exercises on the shoreline and in the air.
Do you think that it was wise that Pelosi visited the island of Tai Pei or should she have kept herself uninvolved in such a tenuous world conflict? Trump seemed to think that she should keep out of Taiwan. Do you think that he is right that Nancy is causing a massive conflict?
