so we begin today with nancy pelosi she
has left taiwan after making the first
visit to the island by a speaker of the
u.s house of representatives for 25
years her trip sparked a fresh dispute
between washington and beijing and of
course thais were already strained even
before she landed while in taipei pelosi
held talks with president xi jinguen and
she was also given a special award
taiwan taiwan is a reliable and
trustworthy cooperative partner of the
united states we will continue to work
with the us congress as well as
administration to strengthen cooperation
in areas such as indo-pacific security
economic development talent cultivation
and supply chain so as to further
elevate taiwan u.s relations
i welcome speaker pelosi and delegation
to taiwan thank you for taking concrete
actions to show your staunch support for
taiwan at this critical moment and for
expressing the us’s consistent policy
supporting taiwan’s
taiwan has been an island of brazilians
in the world indeed the people of taiwan
have proven to the world that with hope
courage and determination it is possible
to build a peaceful and prosperous
future even in terms of the challenges
you face
and now more than ever
america’s solidarity with
taiwan is crucial and that is the
message we are bringing here today
today the world faces a choice between
democracy
and autocracy
america’s determination to preserve
democracy here in taiwan and around the
world
remains ironclad
pelosi also met with human rights
activists in a closed-door session since
pelosi’s potential pit stop in taiwan
was first mooted earlier this year
beijing has signaled its anger about a
top u.s politician second in line for
the presidency visiting the island while
in cambodia for the asean summit chinese
foreign minister wang yi said anybody
who offends china will
the united states is violating china’s
sovereignty under the guise of so-called
democracy
those who play with fire will not come
to a good end and those who open china
will be punished
shortly after pelosi’s arrival china
announced a series of live fire military
drills in the air and sea around the
island taiwan has condemned the military
exercises
china’s announcement on its drills in
six areas around taiwan including the
south west east and south east between
august 4 to august 7 are equal to sea
and air blockades such an act covers our
country’s territory and sea territory it
has severely infringed our country’s
territorial sovereignty and violated the
regulations related with the united
nations maritime conventions our country
is severely condemning such acts
meanwhile the united states and
indonesian militaries have begun their
annual joint combat exercises on the
island of sumatra other partner nations
joined for the first time signaling
stronger ties amid growing maritime
activity by china in the indo-pacific
region more than 5 000 troops from the
us indonesia australia japan and
singapore are participating in this
year’s exercises making them the largest
since the drills began in 2009
and so we cross live to weon’s u.s
correspondent susan tehrani who is
joining us live today
from new york city uh susan nancy pelosi
has now been to taiwan she’s left taiwan
uh the chinese continue to threaten
further reprisals for washington now
this must be a game of simply watching
and waiting to see just how far china
decides to go
yeah absolutely and it seems that the
stakes are a lot higher for taiwan these
military exercises on the part of
beijing are really happening after nancy
pelosi departs but you know one
miscalculation and
really things can get out of hand during
these military exercises and the last
time that we saw something like this
happen was back in 1995 and we saw a
mass redeployment and deployment of u.s
military troops
move towards taiwan and beijing towards
the taiwan straits so everyone’s hoping
that something like that won’t happen
many here are saying that beijing is
really saber rattling taking this to the
next level this wasn’t something that
should have really um
you know caused so much drama and
controversy other members of congress
had already visited uh taiwan uh but you
know the significance of nancy pelosi is
that she was a high-ranking official the
highest perhaps in 25 years
and
and you know this is it’s it’s a game of
as you said you know
waiting on the one hand but on the other
hand xi jinping couldn’t really sit
around
and and watch something like this happen
because of the issues that he’s facing
at home as well he has a domestic
audience that he has to satisfy as well
susan it was notable that despite
obvious white house unease about this
trip uh both uh parties in congress
lawmakers across the aisle
came together while she was in taiwan to
sign onto a statement approving her
visit there she then wrote an op-ed
that’s been published in the new york
times
in which she says
we must stand by taiwan which is an
island of resilience america stands with
taiwan our democratic partner as it
defends itself and its freedom
now the white house got into a bit of a
jam yesterday trying to explain what she
meant by america stands with taiwan
because
you know there are questions about
whether that claim
was almost walking right up to the point
of recognizing taiwanese independence
yeah that’s um one aspect of it and a
lot of
analysts here are saying right now that
um you know because of beijing’s saber
rattling and because beijing has been so
aggressive whether or not the united
states should perhaps change this policy
that has been going on for the last 50
years
and you know move away from that policy
of strategic ambiguity and whether or
not uh president biden intentionally or
not recognized that when he made those
so-called gaps and said that the united
states would go and defend taiwan so um
you know that’s a conversation that’s
ongoing right now but the white house is
being very careful in um you know making
statements like that