TAIPEI (Reuters) – Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday as part of a tour of Asia, a visit immediately denounced by China, which considers the island an integral part of its territory and immediately sent fighters into the Taiwan Strait.
The visit “honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy,” Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, adding that the trip “in no way contradicts” Washington’s “one China” policy. .
Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic Party executive from which US President Joe Biden also comes, was greeted by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu upon her arrival at Taipei airport.
Beijing denounced the visit by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, describing it as a “serious violation of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also says it sees it as an attack on the “political foundations” of relations between China and the United States, while the question of Taiwan is “the most sensitive and the most important” of these bilateral relations.
“Whoever plays with fire will succumb to it,” the ministry added in a statement released following Nancy Pelosi’s arrival at Taipei airport.
As before the arrival of the American representative, Beijing sent fighter jets to the Taiwan Strait, the official Chinese press reported.
The Chinese military will hold drills near Taiwan from Aug. 4 to 7, she added.
China, which considers Taiwan as a renegade province and does not rule out the use of force to bring it back into its fold, had repeatedly warned against a visit by Nancy Pelosi to the democratic island, according to her same fuel tensions in the region.
Prior to Nancy Pelosi’s arrival, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said it had the “determination, ability and confidence” to secure the island, adding, without further details, that it had already planned a series of contingency plans.
The ministry said in a statement that it would appropriately distribute the military capabilities it has in the region to deal with “enemy threats”.
Taipei “enhanced” its military alert level on Tuesday morning until noon Thursday, the official Taiwanese news agency reported, citing unidentified sources.
(Report Sarah Wu and Yimou Lee; French version Matthieu Protard and Jean Terzian, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)