U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday became the highest-ranking American official to set foot in Taiwan in a quarter century, prompting a furious China to announce missile tests and military drills encircling the democratic island.
The U.S. Air Force plane carrying Pelosi and a delegation of lawmakers on a trip to several Asian allies and partners landed at Taipei’s Songshan Airport in the Taiwanese capital, live-streamed video showed. The House speaker and her fellow lawmakers were greeted on the tarmac by Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and Sandra Oudkirk, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the island's de facto U.S. embassy.
In a statement released soon after she arrived, Pelosi said the delegation's visit "honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant Democracy" and is part of a broader trip focusing on "mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance" in the Indo-Pacific.