US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that China cannot isolate Taiwan by preventing US officials from traveling there. She made the remarks in Tokyo, the final leg of her Asia tour highlighted by a visit to Taiwan that infuriated China. US House Speaker said in Taipei that the US commitment to democracy in Taiwan and elsewhere “remains ironclad.” Ms Pelosi and five other members of US Congress arrived in Tokyo yesterday after visiting Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that China’s military exercises aimed at Taiwan represent a “grave problem” that threatens regional peace and security after five ballistic missiles launched as part of the drills landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Mr Kishida, speaking after breakfast with Ms Pelosi and her congressional delegation, said the missile launches need to be “stopped immediately.”
Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said five missiles landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone off Hateruma, an island far south of Japan’s main islands. He said Japan protested to China, saying the missiles “threatened Japan’s national security and the lives of the Japanese people, which we strongly condemn.”
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, attending a regional meeting in Cambodia, said China’s actions are “severely impacting peace and stability in the region and the international community, and we demand the immediate suspension of the military exercises.”