Nancy Pelosi leaves Taiwan after controversial visit

• Nancy Pelosi is most senior US politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
• China angered after she defied Beijing’s orders not to allow her to visit the island.
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• China declares “necessary and just” military drills in seas roughly 10 miles (16 kilometres) from Taiwan.

US House Leader Nancy Pelosi has left Taiwan following a brief but controversial visit.

Ms Pelosi, the most senior US politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years, left on Wednesday after meeting with authorities in Taipei.

Her visit, which was part of a larger Asian tour, aroused outrage in Beijing after she disobeyed Beijing’s orders not to visit the island.

Taiwan is self-governed, although China regards it as a separatist province that will inevitably join China.

In a statement, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said “those who play with fire will not come to a good end, and those who offend China will be punished”.

“The United States is violating China’s sovereignty under the guise of so-called democracy,” he added.

On the one hand, it adheres to the “One China” policy, which recognises only one Chinese government and grants it formal links with Beijing rather than Taiwan.

On the other hand, it maintains a “strong unofficial” relationship with the island, including selling weaponry to Taiwan in order for it to defend itself.

Ms Pelosi, as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is second in line to the presidency, after Vice President Kamala Harris.

In response to the trip, China declared “necessary and just” military drills in seas roughly 10 miles (16 kilometres) from Taiwan.

The exercises, which will take place in some of the world’s busiest waterways and span five days, will begin on Thursday and will feature “long-range live fire shooting.”

According to Reuters, a US official said on Wednesday that Beijing may try to use the visit to inflame tensions. Sun Li-fang, a spokesman for China’s defence ministry, agreed that some of the manoeuvres may violate Taiwan’s territorial waters.

Taiwan is facing “deliberately heightened military threats,” according to President Tsai Ing-wen, who added that Taiwan “will not back down and will do all it takes to improve its self-defense capabilities.”

Taiwan’s port authorities have asked ships to find alternate ways to avoid the drills, while Transport Minister Wang Kwo-tsai said Taipei was arranging alternative aircraft routes with neighbouring Japan and the Philippines.

It comes after days of growing tensions in which Chinese jets flew as far as the median line, the unofficial division in the waters between China and Taiwan.

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