Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo on the last stop of her Asia tour, Pelosi said China had tried to isolate Taiwan from the international community but would not prevent US officials from traveling there.
“We will not allow (China) to isolate Taiwan,” she said. “They don’t meet our travel schedule.”
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on Wednesday, when she met with President Tsai Ing-wen and other leaders, infuriated China’s Communist Party, which views the self-ruled democratic island as its territory — even though it has never controlled it.
Before the visit, Beijing warned it would take “forceful measures” if Pelosi continued, and on her departure it launched live-fire military exercises and sent missiles over Taiwan for the first time.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said that as of 11 a.m. Friday, several Chinese warplanes and warships conducted exercises around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the median line, halfway between the island and mainland China.
Taiwan’s military responded with radio warnings, air patrols, naval vessels and coastal missile systems, the ministry said.
On Thursday, China sent 22 warplanes into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), all of which crossed the median line.
A number of countries, including the G7 group of some of the world’s biggest economies, have criticized China’s exercises, urging Beijing not to change the status quo in the region.
In her comments Friday, Pelosi said the visit to Taiwan was about maintaining the status quo.
“It’s about the Taiwan Relations Act, the US-China policy, all the legislation and agreements that have established what our relationship is – to have peace in the Taiwan Strait and have the status quo prevail,” she said.
Pelosi also dismissed suggestions from some critics that her visit had more to do with smoothing over her legacy than benefiting the island, calling the claim “ridiculous.”
She pointed to Taiwan’s “free and open democracy,” successful economy and relatively progressive LGBTQ rights. “It’s not about me — it’s about them,” she added. “This is about Taiwan, and I’m proud to have worked over the years to show the concerns they have with mainland China.”
Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday called for an immediate halt to China’s drills, calling them a “serious problem for the security of our country and its people.”
Japan earlier filed a formal complaint after five Chinese missiles landed in its exclusive economic zone.
Amid worsening relations, China canceled a planned meeting between the foreign ministers of China and Japan.
On Thursday, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Deng Li summoned envoys to China from European countries, the EU and Japan to protest their statements on Taiwan.
The G7 statement “distorts the facts” and is a “clear political provocation”, said Deng, who accused the participating countries of interfering in China’s internal affairs.
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was the first by a sitting House Speaker in 25 years since former Speaker Newt Gingrich visited in 1997. Her Asia tour also included stops in Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.
CNN’s Gawon Bae and Yong Xiong in Seoul, Emiko Jozuka in Tokyo, Eric Cheung in Taipei and Sam Fossum in Washington contributed to this report.
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