Today, the world faces a choice between democracy and authoritarianism
– This was stated by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives during his meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Jingwen.
The United States’ commitment to maintaining democracy, here in Taiwan and elsewhere in the world, is unwavering
– This was stated by a politician from the Democratic Party.
Beijing, which views the island as Chinese territory and opposes any direct meetings between Taiwan’s leaders and foreign politicians, has announced several military exercises across the island, some extending into Taiwan’s territorial waters, and issued a number of harsh exercises. The comments came after a six-member US delegation arrived in Taipei on Tuesday evening.
Taiwan rejected China’s live-fire exercises on Tuesday, the largest Chinese military exercise targeting Taiwan since 1995, when Beijing launched a large number of missiles near the island to express its displeasure over then-Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui’s visit to the United States. .
Taiwan will not back down from deliberately increasing military threats
– This was stated by Taiwan President Kag during his meeting with Pelosi on Wednesday.
We resolutely defend our sovereignty and reserve our lines of defense to preserve democracy. (.) Any aggression against democratic Taiwan will have unforeseen consequences for the entire Asia-Pacific region
Cai Jingwen explained.
The Taiwanese president thanked the US spokesman for his decades of support and presented the 82-year-old US politician with an award as a sign of his gratitude.
Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan further exacerbated already strained US-China relations, given that the speaker of the House of Representatives ranks third in the country’s official protocol ranking after the US president and vice president. He is the first US speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years since Newt Gingrich’s 1997 visit.
Beijing gave a firm and clear military, political and diplomatic response to Pelosi’s visit: In addition to Tuesday night’s shooting and the four-day military exercise, the Chinese People’s Army Air Force sent a squadron of 21 military aircraft to Taiwan on Tuesday night, and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Hsieh Feng invited them to In his office the same evening, US Ambassador to Beijing Nicholas Burns to express his country’s protest against the visit.
Cover photo: Annabelle Chih / Getty Images
