Pelosi departs Taiwan after whirlwind visit

08/03/2022 06:03 PM

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People take photo of the U.S. Air Force plane with the congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when they wrapped up the Taiwan stop in their Indo-Pacific trip, by Taipei Songshan Airport on Wednesday. CNA photo Aug. 3, 2022

Taipei, Aug. 3 (CNA) U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan for South Korea on Wednesday evening after a brief stop in Taipei, during which she met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), local lawmakers, and human rights activists, amid Beijing's opposition.

Her aircraft departed from Taipei Songshan Airport at 6:01 p.m. to continue the rest of her Indo-Pacific trip that will take her to South Korea and Japan before heading back to the U.S.

During her 19-hour stay in Taipei, Pelosi met with President Tsai, visited the legislature, met with Taiwan lawmakers, and attended a government luncheon.

She also visited the White Terror Memorial Park, where political prisoners were held during the decades of martial law under the former Kuomintang (KMT) regime, and met with human rights activists.

The trip makes the 82-year-old California Democrat the highest-level U.S. official to visit Taiwan in 25 years and the first sitting U.S. House speaker to visit Taiwan since 1997, when her predecessor, Republican Newt Gingrich, traveled to Taipei and met with then-President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).

Her visit has drawn the ire of China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and opposes any official interactions that would imply otherwise.

Since her aircraft touched down in Taipei on Tuesday night, Beijing has announced a series of live-fire military drills in the waters around Taiwan from Aug. 4-7, and imposed import bans on products from over 100 Taiwanese food manufacturers.

(By Joseph Yeh)

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