Pelosi became the most senior American politician to travel to Taiwan since then-President Newt Gingrich in 1997. China’s first reaction.
Before more since 30 years, in 1991, US Representative Nancy Pelosi angered the Chinese government by appearing in the tiananmen square and unfurling a banner honoring the dissidents killed in the 1989 protests.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Pelosi ignored China’s warnings and landed in Taiwan to support her government and meet with human rights activists.
Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan underscores the long history of the US Congress taking a harder line than the White House in dealings with Beijing.
Second in line for the presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris, Pelosi became the most senior American politician to travel to Taiwan since then-President Newt Gingrich in 1997. She led a delegation of six other members of the House.
In 1991, two years after China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests, Pelosi and two other US lawmakers unfurled a banner in Tiananmen that read: “To those who died for democracy in China.”
The police approached them, forcing them to leave the square.
In 2015, she took a group of House Democrats to Tibet, the first such visit since widespread unrest in 2008. Pelosi has spoken regularly about human rights issues in Tibet and has met the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing accuses of being violent. separatist.
China sees visits by US officials to Taiwan as sending an encouraging message to the island’s pro-independence camp. Washington has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is legally bound to provide it with the means to defend itself.
Kharis Templeman, a Taiwan expert at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, said Pelosi, 82, would try to cement her legacy by sending a message of support for Taiwan against pressure from Beijing.
Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan rejects China’s claims of sovereignty and says only its people can decide its future.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Pelosi’s trip would lead to “very serious developments and consequences.”
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