House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became Tuesday the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan since 1997.
Pelosi’s plane touched down on the island of Taiwan at around 10:45 a.m. She is accompanied by a delegation of Democratic Reps from New York, California, Washington, Illinois, and New Jersey.
Taiwan is the first step of Pelosi’s extensive tour in Asia and has triggered stern warnings from Chinese officials including President Xi Jinping.
“Those who play with fire will perish by it,” he reportedly told his American counterpart on a Thursday phone call. “It is hoped that the US will be clear-eyes about this.”
Pelosi’s Taiwan trip sent dozens of protesters to the streets in her San Francisco hometown with demonstrators believing it unnecessarily provokes a “potential war” with China.
They urged the lawmaker to “focus on the real challenges of inflation, climate crisis, and economic distress facing the American people.”
Similar protests were reported outside the Grand Hyatt hotel in the Taiwanese capital Taipei ahead of Pelosi’s arrival.
