US Speaker Visits Taiwan

The US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Taiwan.

Pelosi and her delegation disembarked from a US Air Force transport plane at Songshan Airport in downtown Taipei and were received by Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, and US representative in Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk.

Report says her arrival has sparked immediate criticism from Beijing, with China’s foreign ministry saying it seriously violated China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Pelosi was on a tour of Asia that includes announced visits to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. Her stop in Taiwan had not been announced but had been widely anticipated.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own, and a foreign ministry spokesman said earlier this week that any visit by Pelosi would be “a gross interference in China’s internal affairs” and warned that “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will never sit idly by.”

REUTERS/CO