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In retaliation for her high-profile visit to the self-ruled island last week, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Washington must allow Beijing to establish a “new normal” in Taiwan through provocative drills and warplane intrusions in the Taiwan Straits. “What we saw in China was an attempt to build a new normal. And we simply cannot allow this to happen “Pelosi spoke at a press conference on Wednesday following her trip to Asia.
China claimed on Wednesday that it had “successfully finished” its week-long and unprecedented military drills that practically surrounded Taiwan, warning that regular combat patrols will become the new normal to enforce its one-China policy. The People’s Liberation Army first announced the war simulations in the bustling Taiwan Strait from August 4 to 7, the day after Pelosi, the highest-ranking US leader to visit Taiwan in 25 years, left Taipei following high-level meetings.
It later kept extending them, keeping the breakaway island on edge. The Chinese military manoeuvres comprised hundreds of jets and dozens of naval ships, including an aircraft carrier group carrying a nuclear submarine, amid claims by the official media here that such war simulations in the busy Taiwan Strait will become the new normal.
“We didn’t go there to talk about China. We went there to laud Taiwan. “And we went there to show our friendship and to say, ‘China cannot isolate Taiwan,'” Pelosi said. The visit sent a strong message that America’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific is unwavering, according to Pelosi.
She stated that bilateral discussions focused on seizing opportunities and addressing shared challenges, such as upholding democracy in the face of autocracy, fostering robust economic growth, including through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and in governance, responding to COVID-19, and addressing the climate crisis.
According to Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Pelosi’s travel to Taiwan demonstrated that no matter what Chinese President Xi Jinping said, the US will stand behind its friends and allies. The news conference was also attended by Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who was a member of the Congressional delegation to Taiwan. According to him, the delegation talked about the backlog of pending arms sales to Taiwan. Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan were also visited by the delegation.
