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| In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, and Taiwanese President President Tsai Ing-wen arrive for a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meeting top officials in Taiwan despite warnings from China, said Wednesday that she and other congressional leaders in a visiting delegation are showing they will not abandon their commitment to the self-governing island. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP) |
Washington: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement on Wednesday in which she described her high-stakes trip to Taipei as a “strong statement that America stands with Taiwan.”
She said that visit is part of broader travels in the Indo-Pacific, focused on security, prosperity and governance – on which Taiwan is a global leader.
The US House Speaker, who is second in line to the Oval Office after the US vice-president, said Taiwan is a very special place and added that America’s solidarity with the people of Taiwan is more important today than ever.
“Our congressional delegation’s visit should be seen as a strong statement that America stands with Taiwan,” Pelosi said in the statement. “We came to Taiwan to listen to, learn from and show our support for the people of Taiwan, who have built a thriving democracy that stands as one of the freest and most open in the world.”
“Throughout our visit, we highlighted Taiwan’s many successes on those three important priorities. On security: we reaffirmed Congress’ ongoing commitment to helping Taiwan defend its freedom in the face of aggression. On economy: we conveyed how our CHIPS and Science Act will go a long way to strengthening both our economies, as well as expressed our support for a 21st Century trade framework. On governance: we congratulated them on their robust response to the pandemic, one of the most successful in the world.
She said that the US will continue to work together on its priorities, including collaborating to combat the climate crisis, which is an imperative for our mutual security, economic growth and to honour our responsibility to future generations.
US has said this trip in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy on the self-governed island. China, meanwhile, has said Pelosi’s Taiwan visit was a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the joint communique signed between the two countries.
In a statement today, Pelosi also slammed China for preventing Taiwan from participating in world forums.
“Sadly, Taiwan has been prevented from participating in global meetings, most recently the World Health Organization, because of objections by the Chinese Communist Party. While they may prevent Taiwan from sending its leaders to global forums, they cannot prevent world leaders or anyone from travelling to Taiwan to pay respect to its flourishing Democracy, to highlight its many successes and to reaffirm our commitment to continued collaboration,” she said.
During her brief Taipei visit, the US delegation held two bilateral meetings with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
They also had an interparliamentary meeting with the Vice President of the Legislative Yuan Tsai Chi-chang and leaders of other parties in the Parliament. Pelosi described these meetings as “very positive and productive.”
