Nancy Pelosi arrives in Taipei as China sends fighter jets to the Taiwan Strait

Nancy Pelosi, the US House Speaker, landed in Taiwan late on Tuesday night, defying threats of retaliation from Beijing and criticism that her trip was reckless and provocative.

Pelosi landed at 10.50pm local time after a seven-hour flight that took her US Air Force plane south of the Malaysian peninsula, around the South China Sea and east of the Philippines on a trip that was tracked live by more than 200,000 people online.

The US government plane carrying Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi arrives in Taiwan on August 2.Credit: Getty

There were no public reports of mid-air incidents as her plane landed in Taipei after weeks of threats from Beijing that the United States was “playing with fire” by allowing Pelosi to travel to Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own.

Chinese government-controlled media said China’s air force jets had entered the Taiwan Strait moments before Pelosi touched down. The Chinese Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said it would begin joint military drills on Tuesday including long-range firing and conventional missile firing on waters east of Taiwan.

The army also announced it would conduct military drills that will effectively encircle Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday. The rapid response suggests that further naval exercises and aerial breaches of Taiwan’s median line could take place as Pelosi meets with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday.

Pelosi, the second in line to the US presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris, was met by Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on the tarmac at Taipei Songshan Airport.

Nancy Pelosi, centre, arrives in Taipei.Credit: Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“Our Congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan honours America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy,” Pelosi said in a statement after landing in Taipei.

“Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan – and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy. The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo.”

Pelosi’s arrival followed a series of escalations by Beijing, some division within the US national security establishment and growing fears the visit may spark an accidental conflict between the world’s two largest superpowers.

In its first economic response to what China’s Foreign Ministry had labelled “a violation of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Beijing on Tuesday blocked the importation of 180 Taiwanese foods including drinks and pineapple cakes and began live-fire exercises off its north-eastern coast.

The measures sent markets in China tumbling and saw the Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fall by more than 3 per cent.

In a statement, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington’s betrayal “on the Taiwan issue is bankrupting its national credibility”.

“Some American politicians are playing with fire on the issue of Taiwan,” Wang wrote, referring to the US as “the world’s biggest saboteur of peace”.

Pelosi is the highest-ranking serving US official to visit Taipei in decades and the highest-ranking to meet with Tsai.

Republican Newt Gingrich was the last US House Speaker to visit in 1997, but he was not a member of the governing Democratic Party.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.Credit: AP

The visit by Pelosi has been viewed by Beijing as an endorsement of Taiwan’s government by the Biden administration. Beijing claims self-governed Taiwan is a province of the mainland, despite the Chinese Communist Party never having ruled the neighbouring democratic island of 23 million people.

Pelosi penned an opinion piece for the Washington Post, laying out her rationale for the visit.

“In the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s accelerating aggression, our congressional delegation’s visit should be seen as an unequivocal statement that America stands with Taiwan, our democratic partner, as it defends itself and its freedom,” she wrote.

The House Speaker drew a line to the larger issue of democracy’s future amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“We take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”

“As Russia wages its premeditated, illegal war against Ukraine, killing thousands of innocents — even children — it is essential that America and our allies make clear that we never give in to autocrats.”

Pelosi’s plans for her trip to Taipei were leaked to US and Taiwanese media and the reports provoked an increasingly heavy rhetorical response from Beijing. It warned on Monday that its military “will not sit idly by”.

“We will not be intimidated by the PRC’s weaponisation of trade,” said Taiwanese MP Wang Ting Yu, referring to the initials for the People’s Republic of China.

But analysts are concerned that Pelosi’s visit could escalate the dispute beyond trade sanctions.

“Pelosi’s trip is unlikely to start a new crisis in the Taiwan Strait by itself, but it is indicative of a bigger spiral of tension that could lead to a serious crisis, or even an armed conflict, between the United States and China,” said the Cato Institute’s director of defence policy studies, Eric Gomez.

China began live-fire exercises in the Bohai Sea on Monday and has steadily increased its release of war propaganda to coincide with Pelosi’s visit and the 95th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army on Monday.

“The Chinese response will likely involve additional large-scale military activities in the Taiwan Strait. All these manoeuvres in close quarters could lead to dangerous encounters or, worse, an accidental collision, which could in turn spark further brinksmanship and escalation,” said International Crisis Group senior analyst Amanda Hsiao.

“If managed poorly, this event could lock in place a more confrontational approach to the Taiwan issue on both sides, making future dynamics yet more dangerous.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham have yet to comment publicly on Pelosi’s trip to Asia, which also includes Japan and South Korea, but she has received support from the current and future chairs of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Liberal senator James Paterson and Labor MP Peter Khalil.

“It’s a reaffirmation of the Biden administration’s commitment to the region,” Khalil told Sky News on Tuesday.

“As James said, this is a really important trip because it is all about US presence and US engagement, both economic and in a security sense in our region as a stabilising force.”

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