TOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday praised Taiwan, pledged U.S. solidarity and said her tour of Asia, which led to exercises unprecedented military action by an angry China, it was never about changing the regional status quo.
Pelosi and a congressional delegation were in Japan on the final leg of an Asian trip that included a brief, unannounced stop in Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own, prompting an enraged Beijing to hold mock real fire in the waters. around Taiwan, with five missiles landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
His stop in Taiwan, the highest-level visit by a US official in 25 years, comes as Tokyo, one of Washington’s closest allies, grows increasingly alarmed by China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific and the possibility that Beijing may take military action. against Taiwan.
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“We have said from the beginning that our representation here is not about changing the status quo in Taiwan or the region,” he told a news conference after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
“The Chinese government is not happy that our friendship with Taiwan is strong,” he added.
“He is bipartisan in the House and Senate, overwhelmingly supportive of peace and the status quo in Taiwan.”
China has condemned Pelosi’s trip, which took the delegation to Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, as well as Taiwan and Japan.
Its state broadcaster said the military drills, which began on Thursday – the day after Pelosi left Taiwan – and will end on Sunday, would be China’s largest in the Taiwan Strait. The exercises have involved live fire in the waters and in the airspace of the island.
Japan said five of the nine missiles fired into its territory landed in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Tokyo lodged a diplomatic protest over the incident, which Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called “unprecedented”. Read more
Pelosi praised Taiwan’s democracy, economic achievements and, in a veiled investigation into China, its human rights record, highlighting support for Taiwan, the first Asian government to allow same-sex marriage , to LGBTQ rights.
“The fact is, I’ve said it time and time again, if we don’t speak up for human rights in China because of commercial interests, we lose all moral authority to speak up for human rights anywhere in the world,” he said.
“China has some contradictions: some progress in terms of people rising up, some horrible things happening in terms of the Uyghurs. In fact, it’s been called genocide.”
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attends a news conference as she is flanked by US Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY) at the US Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, August 5, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato
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Human rights groups accuse Beijing of abuses against Xinjiang’s Uyghur ethnic group, accusations China rejects.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, a member of the delegation, was even more blunt.
“They certainly don’t want us to keep talking about what’s happening in Xinjiang (with) the Uyghurs,” he said.
“We’re going to talk and speak for human rights, human dignity and the democratic process. That’s what this trip was about.”
ALLY CONCERNED, KEEP THE PEACE
Earlier, Pelosi met with Kishida, who later said they would work together to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a key shipping lane, a view echoed by US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel .
“It is clear that the US-Japan Alliance will remain strong, shoulder to shoulder, to defend our interests and our values,” he said in a statement.
Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan is a growing threat to national security. Read more
Tensions between Japan and China also rose a notch on Thursday when China announced that a meeting between the two nations’ foreign ministers, which will take place on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Cambodia , had been suspended due to his displeasure with a G7 Declaration urging Beijing to peacefully resolve tensions over Taiwan. Read more
China summoned Japan’s ambassador to Beijing to make stern representations over its involvement in the “erroneous” G7 statement, its foreign ministry said on Friday.
During a visit to Japan in May, U.S. President Joe Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan, a comment that appeared to stretch the boundaries of the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward the island Read more
Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has also pledged to double military spending to 2% of GDP.
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Additional reporting by Elaine Lies, Mariko Katsumura and Kentaro Sugiyama; written by Elaine Lies; Editing by David Dolan, Stephen Coates and Simon Cameron-Moore
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