Taiwan’s Lai and ex-Speaker Pelosi discuss ‘China threats’
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te discussed “China’s military threats” towards the island.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te discussed “China’s military threats” towards the island in a call with former US house Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday (AEDT), his spokeswoman said in Hawaii, Mr Lai’s first stop on a Pacific trip that has enraged Beijing.
Ms Pelosi’s long-standing support for Taiwan has infuriated China, which responded to her visit in 2022 to Taipei with massive military drills around the island.
Mr Lai and Ms Pelosi discussed among other things “China’s military threats towards Taiwan”, presidential spokeswoman Karen Kuo said, describing the 20-minute call between the “long-time friends” as “warm and amicable”.
China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, opposes any international recognition of Taiwan and its claim to be a sovereign state.
Beijing especially bristles at official contact between the island and the US, Taiwan’s most important supporter and biggest arms supplier.
China has already fumed over more US arms sales to the island and Mr Lai’s stopover in Hawaii, where he was welcomed with red carpets, garlands of flowers and “alohas”.
Since arriving on Saturday, Mr Lai has met with state Governor Josh Green, members of the US congress, officials from the de facto US embassy in Taiwan and others. In his first public speech of the trip, Mr Lai on Saturday said “we have to fight together to prevent war”, warning there were “no winners” from conflict.
China’s foreign ministry called on the US at the weekend to “immediately stop arming Taiwan and abetting and supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces … China will take strong, resolute countermeasures to defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,”
In a separate statement, the foreign ministry said China “strongly condemns” the US for Mr Lai’s stopover.
AFP
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