SEOUL — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plane touched down in Taiwan on Tuesday evening local time. Her visit sparked warnings from mainland China, and the risk of a fourth crisis in the area known as the Taiwan Strait.
China sees Taiwan as part of its territory, and the visit by Pelosi — the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to visit the island since House Speaker Newt Gingrich 25 years ago — as a breach of its sovereignty. It also sees it as a breach of Washington's commitment to a "one-China policy," recognizing Beijing as China's sole legitimate government.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi railed at Washington in a statement Tuesday, saying its betrayal of China "on the Taiwan issue is bankrupting its national credibility." Both the U.S. and China have stepped up military activity in the region ahead of the visit, with China's Eastern Theater Command starting joint air and sea operations in all directions around Taiwan just minutes after Pelosi landed in Taipei.
