Nancy Pelosi boarded her US Air Force jet in Taipei and left Taiwan following a historic visit that enraged China and escalated tensions between Beijing and Washington.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives and five other members of Congress are now heading to South Korea, the next stop on an Asia tour that also includes Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
Earlier today, Pelosi accused China of ‘standing in the way’ of Taiwan’s participation in international affairs and cautioned that America’s commitment to preserving democracy ‘remains ironclad’ during a question-and-answer session with reporters Wednesday in Taiwan.
Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the US House of Representatives, also met with Taiwan’s female president Tsai Ing-wen – telling her that the controversial visit shows the US ‘will not abandon its commitment’ to the island.
The Democrat specifically called out China, whose leaders warned the trip was pushing Taiwan into a ‘disastrous abyss,’ by telling reporters: ‘They didn’t say anything when the men came.’
Her remark referred to the surprise one-day visit made by a bipartisan congressional delegation in April 2021. The group included Senators Lindsey Graham, Bob Menendez, Richard Burr, Ben Sasse and Rob Portman, as well as Rep. Ronny Jackson.
China furiously condemned the visit as Pelosi hailed self-ruled Taiwan as ‘one of the freest societies in the world’ in her speech to the parliament in Taipei.
Beijing demonstrated its anger with Pelosi’s presence on the island – that it says is part of China – with a burst of military activity in the surrounding waters, by summoning the US ambassador in Beijing and announcing the suspension of several agricultural imports from Taiwan.
Pelosi arrived at the airport in Taiwan in a black Cadillac after meeting with human rights activists, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square student leader Wu’er Kaixi, in a closed-door meeting at the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park.
She spent several minutes talking to officials and workers at Taipei’s Songshan airport before climbing the steps of the jet and waving to the crowd of supporters. The US military aircraft took off at 6pm local time (10.00 GMT).
London DailyMail
