“We are proud of our enduring friendship,” mentioned Pelosi, talking alongside Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on the presidential workplace in Taipei on Wednesday morning native time.
“Now more than ever, America’s solidarity with Taiwan is crucial and that is the message we are bringing here today,” Pelosi mentioned.
Pelosi’s speech got here quickly after Tsai praised the speaker’s lengthy dedication to democracy and human rights and bestowed on her Taiwan’s highest civilian honor, the “Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon.”
“I look forward to displaying this award in the Speaker’s Office, or wearing it there, at the Capitol as a symbol of our treasured friendship,” Pelosi mentioned.
Pelosi’s visit is the primary time in 25 years {that a} US House Speaker has visited Taiwan, a self-governing island, which China claims as a part of its territory.
China’s army — the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA — introduced it was conducting army workout routines from Thursday to Sunday in response to Pelosi’s visit, together with joint air and sea drills and live-fire workout routines
Tsai on Wednesday thanked Pelosi for visiting the self-ruled island, and mentioned Taipei would do “whatever it takes” to strengthen its self-defense functionality.
“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down,” Tsai mentioned on the presidential workplace in Taipei. “We will firmly uphold our nation’s sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defense for democracy. At the same time, we wish to cooperate and work in unity with all democracies around the world to jointly safeguard democratic values.”
Tsai mentioned she is dedicated to “maintaining peace and stability” within the Taiwan Strait and vowed to make Taiwan a “key stabilizing force” for regional safety and the event of worldwide commerce.
Earlier Wednesday, Pelosi praised Taiwan as “one of the freest societies in the world” in her first public remarks since changing into the highest-ranking American official to visit the island in 25 years.
Pelosi and the US congressional delegation she is main additionally met members of the Taiwanese Parliament, exchanging pleasantries with Taiwan’s Deputy Speaker Tsai Chi-chang earlier than a closed-door assembly.
“So now we look forward to our conversation about how we can work together, learning from you and sharing some thoughts ourselves on how to protect the planet from the climate crisis, how to accelerate and learn from you, how you address the Covid crisis, how we advance respect for all of the people in our countries as we go forward,” Pelosi mentioned. “And again, we come in friendship, we thank you for your leadership, we want the world to recognize that.”
Tsai thanked Pelosi for coming to Taiwan and offering “rock-solid support,” saying the US congressional delegation’s visit represents “the strongest defense and consolidation of the value of democracy and freedom.”
On Tuesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense mentioned that 21 Chinese warplanes made incursions into Taiwan’s air protection identification zone (ADIZ).
The incursions have been made by 10 J-16 fighter jets, eight J-11 fighter jets, one Y-9 digital warfare plane, one Y-8 digital intelligence plane, and one KJ-500 airborne early warning and management plane, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry mentioned in an announcement on Tuesday evening.
The Taiwanese army issued radio warnings and deployed air protection missile programs to observe the actions, it added.
China often sends warplanes into Taiwan’s self-declared ADIZ. The most incursions ever recorded was on October 4 final yr, when 56 army planes flew into the realm on the identical day.
Air protection identification zones are buffer areas set as much as give advance warning of incoming plane. They are distinct from, and transcend, sovereign airspace, which is outlined beneath worldwide regulation as extending 12 nautical miles from a territory’s shoreline.
Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Feng summoned the US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, late on Tuesday night native time to protest the visit, Chinese state media outlet CCTV reported on Wednesday.
However, White House officers mentioned that Pelosi’s journey was per US coverage towards Taiwan, whereas warning Beijing not to escalate in response.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the speaker’s visit, saying it “fully demonstrates the high importance the US Congress attaches to Taiwan.”
Pelosi, lengthy a China hawk, defined in an op-ed revealed shortly after she landed Tuesday why she selected to be first speaker to journey to Taiwan in 25 years, writing that the US wanted to face by a democracy now beneath risk by the Chinese Communist Party.
“We cannot stand by as the (Communist Party) proceeds to threaten Taiwan — and democracy itself,” she wrote.
