Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Taiwan

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Taiwan despite repeated warnings from Beijing against the visit and the risk of triggering a military conflict.

Leading a Democratic congressional delegation, Pelosi – an outspoken critic of Beijing and staunch supporter of Taiwan – arrived in Taipei unannounced, a contrast to her high-profile visits to other destinations in her trip through Asia.

Pelosi and her group are expected to meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and other senior officials on Wednesday.

Pelosi began her tour of Asia on Monday with a visit to Singapore. She met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who underscored the importance of stable US-China relations.

Her visit to Taipei comes just days after a virtual summit between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, during which the mainland leader warned the US against “playing with fire” over the Taiwan issue.

Both Pelosi’s office and the island’s authorities remained silent about the visit until after her arrival in Taipei, although the Financial Times reported almost two weeks ago that she was planning a visit.

But as the date of her reported trip approached, both Washington and Beijing took steps to shape the narrative around it.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the trip would be entirely Pelosi’s decision, and called on China to “act responsibly and not to engage in any escalation going forward”.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby also said on Monday: “There is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with long-standing US policy into some sort of crisis.”

Speaking to the press on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbek capital Tashkent, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi slammed Washington for “betraying its own promise on Taiwan” and “despicable” conduct over Pelosi’s visit.

“[This] would only further bankrupt the credibility of the US as a state,” he said on Tuesday, according to the ministry website.

“Certain US politicians are playing with fire on the Taiwan issue for their own private interests. They stand as enemies of 1.4 billion Chinese people,” he said. “The US bullying is known to the world and the world will see more clearly that the US is the largest destroyer of peace.”

Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Beijing has been “closely watching” Pelosi’s trip to Asia, and said it was nothing less than an official act.

“That the US House speaker, as the No 3 person in the US government, visits Taiwan on a US military plane, is no unofficial act,” she said during Tuesday’s regular press briefing in the Chinese capital.

The US should be fully responsible for provoking Beijing and the escalation of tensions, she added.

“The collusion between Taiwan and the US comes first and China’s legitimate defence will follow later,” Hua said. “Any countermeasure taken by the Chinese side is just and necessary, and it’s an inalienable right of a sovereign state.”

Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to return it to its control, warned repeatedly against her visit and vowed to take “forceful measures” if she visited.

Major Western countries, including the US, acknowledge the one-China principle and do not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state. But Washington opposes any attempt by Beijing to unite Taiwan by force.

Beijing sees the visit as a serious violation of its one-China principle, especially because Pelosi is second in line to the presidency and the most senior US politician to visit Taiwan since her predecessor Newt Gingrich in 1997.

The US does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Beijing has repeatedly warned Washington not to have official contact with Taipei or supply it with weapons.

There had been some debate in the United States over whether Pelosi should be making the trip – some lawmakers had urged her to proceed – given Beijing’s warning that the US would “bear all consequences” and face “forceful measures”.

In a joint newsletter to The New York Times published on Friday, senior think tank analysts – Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia programme at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute – called the trip too risky.

“Ms Pelosi and her advisers may think this would have a stabilising effect: many in Washington believe that strong demonstrations of US commitment to Taiwan will dissuade China from risking a military adventure,” they said. “But at this moment, a visit by Ms Pelosi to Taiwan could instead provoke a forceful Chinese response.”

The pair warned that “a single spark could ignite this combustible situation into a crisis that escalates to military conflict”.

Noting that Xi was hoping to get an unprecedented third term later this year and could not afford to appear weak, they said it would be difficult for him to compromise on the Taiwan issue, especially after comments by Joe Biden that the US was committed to defending the island and an apparent reference to Taiwanese independence. The White House has said that US policy has not changed.

Some observers in Taiwan also noted that the island would have to contend with the security and political impact of the visit.

“The House speaker’s visit definitely would seriously provoke Beijing, which has already threatened to take forceful measures if she goes ahead,” Wang Kung-yi, director of the Taiwan International Strategic Study Society, a think tank in Taipei, said ahead of the visit.

But the Tsai government had no choice but to deal with the consequences, he said, adding that keeping the president’s meeting with Pelosi low-key may help reduce Beijing’s anger.

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Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Taiwan

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