Just a week and a half after Nancy Pelosi was in Taiwan, American congressional politicians visited the island again. China reacted strongly.
China reacted angrily to Pelosi’s visit and launched its largest military exercise outside Taiwan, and it has reacted strongly to the new visit.
The Xinhua news agency printed a commentary saying that US politicians should stop playing with fire when it comes to Taiwan.
Delegation five
On Sunday, US authorities announced that a new delegation from Congress had arrived on the disputed island. The delegation is led by Democratic Senator Ed Markey and has five members, four of whom are Democrats.
The politicians will meet Taiwan leaders, including President Tsai Ing-wen, and discuss regional security, according to the American Institute on Taiwan. The agency functions in practice as an American embassy.
They will also hold meetings with the local business community and, among other things, talk about investing in semiconductors, of which Taiwan is a major producer, and they were invited to a dinner hosted by Foreign Minister Joseph Lu.
Military activity
Top Democrat Nancy Pelosi is the leader of the House of Representatives and the most senior US representative to visit Taiwan in decades.
The Chinese government reacted very strongly to his visit. The regime in Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China, even though the island is in practice self-governing.
Even after large-scale military exercises ended on Wednesday, Chinese aircraft continued to cross the center line of the Taiwan Strait every day.
As of Sunday, at least eleven sorties were recorded on the center line, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense. A total of 22 aircraft and six ships were observed in the area.
“Subtly charming web junkie. Unapologetic bacon lover. Introvert. Typical foodaholic. Twitter specialist. Professional travel fanatic.”
