Nancy Pelosi leaves Taiwan after a trip that heightened relations with China

Despite warnings from China not to, Pelosi met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during her 15-hour tour.

After less than 24 hours on the island, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s flight has left Taiwan’s Songshan airport.

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Despite warnings from China not to, Pelosi met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during her 15-hour visit. She called Taiwan a “island of resilience” and commended the US for its “iron-clad” support of democracy there.

China has said that starting on Thursday, it will conduct a number of live-fire military exercises in the air and on the water around the island. Taiwan claims that the action amounts to a blockade and breaches the island’s sovereignty.

The US Speaker’s travel was the first by a top US official in 25 years, although President Biden did not support it.

Beijing views Taiwan, which is independent and 100 miles from the Chinese mainland, as a province that broke away and that it wants to reclaim.