- US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Taiwan.
- There had been speculation for days about a visit by the third-highest-ranking US politician to the island.
- The Pelosis plane landed in Taipei just after 10:45 p.m. local time.
On Tuesday morning (Swiss time), a US Air Force jet that Pelosi had previously flown to Malaysia left the capital Kuala Lumpur. The machine then flew east, flew over the Indonesian islands of Jawa and Sulawesi and turned north shortly after the city of Manado.
Shortly after 4 p.m. (Swiss time) he entered Taiwanese airspace. The plane’s route was the most followed flight on flight tracking website Flightradar24 for hours.
In the face of threats from China, Taiwan’s military has increased its combat readiness.
Beijing had threatened the United States with consequences if Pelosi arrived in Taipei. “Those who play with fire will perish,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned US President Joe Biden in a phone call last Thursday.
On Tuesday afternoon (Swiss time), several news agencies reported that the website of Taiwanese President Tsai Ingwen was briefly unavailable, presumably due to a hacker attack. The authorities confirmed a failure of around 20 minutes. The website is now available again.
From the point of view of the Chinese leadership, Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic, although it was already governed independently before it was founded in 1949. That is why Beijing firmly rejects official contacts from other countries to the government in Taipei, referring to its “One China Doctrine”.
The White House warned Beijing of an escalation. “There is no reason for Beijing to turn a possible visit, consistent with long-standing US policy, into a crisis or conflict,” said Security Council communications director John Kirby. The US would not engage in “saber rattling”. At the same time, the United States will not be intimidated.
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan would be historic
A visit by the third-highest ranking American would be the highest-ranking US visit to Taipei in decades. A Taiwanese MP previously confirmed press reports to the German Press Agency that Pelosi may arrive in Taipei from Malaysia on Tuesday evening local time.
Democratic Taiwan is not on the official itinerary, which includes Singapore and Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. But Beijing fears that Pelosi could ignore Chinese warnings. The US Democrat has long planned to visit Taiwan to take a stand against the threats from China.