After her historic visit to Taiwan, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in South Korea. She is scheduled to meet with Kim Jin-pyo, chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea this morning.
During her day-long visit to Taiwan yesterday, Ms Pelosi had met human rights activists in Taipei, including Wu’er Kaixi, the former leader of China’s democracy movement, which was bloodily suppressed in 1989. Pelosi also met former Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee and social activist Lee Ming-chee, both of whom had been imprisoned in China. The discussion focused on how human rights could be promoted in China, especially in the Xinjiang region. Ms Pelosi was the first US Speaker to visit Taiwan in more than 25 years. In a short speech during her meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, Ms Pelosi said, she and other members of Congress in her delegation showed they will not abandon their commitment to Taiwan. She said, Today the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy and America’s determination to preserve democracy in Taiwan and around the world remains ironclad.
China claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes any engagement by Taiwanese officials with foreign governments. Beijing announced multiple military exercises around the island and issued a series of harsh statements after the US delegation touched down Tuesday night in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei. Taiwan decried the planned actions, saying they violated the island’s sovereignty.