After weeks of silence prior to a visit to Taiwan where much was at stake, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was anything but subdued on Wednesday during a day of high-profile rallies in which she supported Taiwan and angered China.
Ms. Pelosi met with Taiwanese lawmakers and then Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, and pledged wholeheartedly U.S. support for the island democracy that China claims as its own. On the whirlwind day of events, she was welcomed by crowds of supporters waving banners and followed by media and protesters, her closely watched meetings and movements streamed in part online.
In her wake, she paved the way for a new partnership between China and the United States over power and influence in Asia. Taiwan is now bracing for Beijing to begin live-fire military exercises on Thursday — an escalation without recent historical precedent — that could encircle the island and drop missiles into seas just 10 miles from shore.
“Today the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy,” Ms Pelosi said during a meeting with the Taiwanese president. “America’s determination to preserve democracy here in Taiwan and around the world remains rock solid.”
Although the meetings were light in content, they were widely welcomed in Taiwan as a symbolic victory. Ms. Pelosi’s trip was a rare time when a major foreign power publicly expressed support for the island, despite fierce opposition from China. Ms. Pelosi made the trip despite President Biden’s discouragement, and was the most senior member of the United States government to visit the island in 25 years.
The events were an insult to China and its leader, Xi Jinping.
Xi has made uniting Taiwan with China a primary goal of his government, and his defense minister warned in June that Beijing would not hesitate to fight for the island. The Chinese government filed a formal protest with the US State Department over Ms. Pelosi’s visit.
Ms. Pelosi, who left for South Korea late Wednesday afternoon, praised Taiwanese leaders and met with human rights activists. At every moment, she conveyed an undeniable message: Beijing may isolate Taiwan, but it cannot stop American leaders from traveling there.
She also made economic pledges, hopefully instigated a trade deal between Taiwan and the United States, and held a cordial meeting with the chairman of Taiwanese chip giant TSMC. Arguably one of the most geopolitically important companies in the world, TSMC has been courted by the US. officials hope to increase domestic production of microchips.
The trip took place against the background of increasingly fierce warnings from Beijing. Along with the military exercises, a series of hacks hit the Taiwanese government’s websites. China used its status as Taiwan’s largest trading partner to lash out and announced new trade restrictions on Wednesday, including suspensions on imports of some fruits and fish and a ban on the export of sand, an important building material.
Ms Pelosi’s visit could also damage the White House’s drive to bolster support against China from key allies in the region, who analysts say felt sidelined by the trip and frustrated by mounting tensions. With much recent attention swallowed by China’s fulminations during the visit, allies suggested they wish they had been better consulted for Mrs. Pelosi’s journey.
When Mrs. Pelosi toured Taipei, the capital, there was sometimes an almost carnival atmosphere. Hundreds came to watch her plane land, Taipei’s tallest building was lit up with welcome messages, and protesters and supporters crowded around her hotel, then followed her to the legislature and to a human rights museum on Wednesday.
When Mrs. Pelosi arrived at the Taiwanese legislature with a police escort, a support group from one side of the building held up banners reading “USA-Taiwan are brothers” and “I love Pelosi.” A gathering of pro-Chinese protesters, on the other hand, held up placards calling her an “arsonist” and accusing her of meddling in China’s internal affairs.
China’s live-fire drills in the strait would pose a direct challenge to what Taiwan defines as its coastline and territorial waters. Coordinates for the exercises indicated that during a standoff 26 years ago, they could take place closer than previous tests.
The Chinese military warned all boats and planes to avoid the areas they identified for 72 hours. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said the exercises amounted to a blockade. The exercises are taking place in six areas around Taiwan and may temporarily cut off access to some commercial shipping routes and Taiwanese ports.
On Wednesday, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said more reprisals for the United States and Taiwan would follow Ms Pelosi’s visit.
“As for the specific countermeasures, what I can tell you is that they include everything that needs to be included,” Ms Hua said, according to People’s Daily. “The measures in question will be determined, strong and effective, and the US side and Taiwan independence forces will continue to feel them.”
An important question for Taiwan and the US military will be whether they will obey Beijing’s orders to avoid the zones or test China’s resolve by sending boats and planes into them. Analysts fear that a chance encounter could spiral out of control in the rapidly changing situation.
The standoff is reminiscent of an incident in 1995 and 1996 called the Taiwan Third Strait Crisis. During that crisis, China fired live ammunition and missiles into the waters around Taiwan to express anger over President Lee Teng-hui’s trip to the United States and to increase pressure in the run-up to the presidential election. The United States sent two aircraft carrier groups to the area in response.
A lot has changed since then. The Chinese military is more powerful and more emboldened under Xi Jinping. This summer, Chinese officials insisted that no part of the Taiwan Strait can be considered international waters, meaning they could move to intercept and block American warships passing through the area, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. , sail.
Within China, Beijing’s furious response found widespread support among Chinese. The question for many posting online seemed to be whether the military exercises would sound a warning loud enough. Many wondered whether the lack of response so far would encourage Taiwan to formally seek independence.
“Pelosi ushered in a great era that belongs to us, of course,” said a widely shared comment on Weibo, a social media service. “We will take this opportunity to conduct sea and air patrols around Taiwan without any hindrance so that they are steadily normalized and the unification is getting closer and closer.”
In Taiwan, jubilation was juxtaposed with concerns about what could be the riskiest military standoff with China in a generation. On Taiwanese social media, some posted pictures of China’s military exercises and expressed concern. Eric Liu, a sales manager at a food company in central Taiwan, said he was both excited and concerned.
“It’s unprecedented for Taiwan and my generation of Taiwanese,” said 26-year-old Mr. Liu in an interview. “I felt quite excited and also felt the danger.”
“I believe a war in the Taiwan Strait is inevitable, but I don’t want to see it happen anytime soon,” he added.
During the morning meeting with Taiwanese lawmakers, Ms. Pelosi praised Taiwan’s track record in dealing with Covid-19, human rights and climate issues, according to Lo Chih-cheng, a Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker who attended.
“Given China’s threats and warnings, her visit shows that the United States will not bow to China’s intimidation and has decided to support Taiwan,” he said. “She decided to stand behind democracy’s allies.”
Mrs. Pelosi’s afternoon program made that particularly clear.
The speaker went to Taiwan’s National Human Rights Museum, where she met a group of activists and civil society leaders who consider China a rogue gallery. Among them were a former Tiananmen student protest leader, a former political prisoner in China, a Tibetan activist and a bookseller in Hong Kong.
Kalsang Gyaltsen, the Tibetan activist, said those at the meeting had told Ms Pelosi about the deteriorating human rights situation in China and had received support. “Discussing human rights in Taiwan is the biggest blow to a country like China that has no human rights,” he said.
The visit and the global attention it received, he said, made it clear that in recent years China’s vicious, attention-seeking diplomats have massively used social media to reiterate the Chinese government’s propaganda points.
Chiu Ta, a retired art history professor, waited outside the museum for Mrs. Pelosi to arrive. The 91-year-old noted that the site had been a detention center for political dissidents during the long years of martial law in Taiwan.
He pointed out that many who had been political prisoners in Taiwan became government officials after Taiwan’s democratic transition, and he said he had deep empathy for many in China.
“Those persecuted by the Communist Party are friends of Taiwan,” he said.
Jane Perlez reporting contributed.
