Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi departed Taiwan for South Korea after a whirlwind trip despite angering China.
Pelosi’s itinerary included:
9 a.m.: Meeting with bipartisan lawmakers at Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan10:30 a.m.: Meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen at the presidential office10:53 a.m.: Mrs. Pelosi meets the press3 p.m.: Meeting with human-rights activists, including 1989 Tiananmen Square student leader Wu’er Kaixi at the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen gave Pelosi the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon, the highest civilian honor:
“Thank you, Madam President,” Pelosi said. “It’s with great, immense admiration for your leadership and great personal humility that I accept this award.”“I accept it not for me only, but for our members of Congress who were so instrumental in all that you said about our accomplishments together, Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate, both sides of the aisle united in our support for Taiwan,” she said. “This time, I am so excited to receive this award on behalf of the United States Congress, which is just [as] unwavering [in their support].”.She added: “I look forward to displaying this award in the Speaker’s office.”
Pelosi held a meeting with Tsai Ing-wen, which she detailed to the press:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to a group of reporters following her meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, where she said her visit to Taiwan was to ensure the country’s “security” and that it can defend itself from China.”I do think that the it’s really important for the message to be clear that in the Congress, House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans are committed to the security of Taiwan in order to have Taiwan be able to most effectively defend themselves,” Pelosi said in response to a question from a Central News Agency reporter.”What matters to us is that we salute the successes of Taiwan. We work together for the security of Taiwan,” she added.Another purpose of Pelosi’s trip was “to show the world the success of the people of Taiwan, their courage to change their own country to become more democratic,” she said in response to a subsequent question.Her comments echoed those from her speech, where she said her visit intended to send the message to China that the U.S. supports Taiwan.”Our delegation came here to send an unequivocal message. America stands with Taiwan,” she said.
China has been holding military drills as a way to intimidate the island. China still thinks Taiwan belongs to it.
Tsai made it known Taiwan will do whatever it needs to do to defend itself:
“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down,” Tsai said during a televised meeting with Pelosi.”We will firmly uphold our nation’s sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defense for democracy. At the same time, we wish to cooperate and work in unity with all democracies around the world to jointly safeguard democratic values.”Taiwan would do “whatever it takes” to strengthen its defensive capabilities, Tsai added, saying she was committed to “maintaining peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait and vowing to make Taiwan a “key stabilizing force” for regional security and the development of global trade.
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