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China blasts Pentagon official’s Taiwan visit

BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday sharply criticized a visit to Taiwan by a senior Pentagon official and reaffirmed it has sanctioned Lockheed Martin and a unit of Raytheon for supplying military equipment to the self-governing island democracy.

The comments from the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office underscore the dramatic deterioration in relations between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan, technology, spying allegations, and, increasingly, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Asked about the reported visit by Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said China “resolutely opposes any official interaction and military collaboration” between the U.S. and Taiwan.

Efforts by Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party to cement the island’s independence with foreign assistance are “doomed to failure,” Zhu told reporters.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary, and has been stepping up its military and diplomatic harassment. The sides split amid civil war in 1949, and China’s authoritarian Communist Party has never held sway over the island.

WATCH: Where relations between U.S. and Russia stand a year after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

A Pentagon spokesperson did not comment directly on Chase’s visit, repeating that “our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region.” Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it had no information about any such visit.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said a “new round of tensions” in the Taiwan Strait was a result of the Taiwanese authorities’ attempts to “seek independence with U.S. support, as well as the U.S. intention to contain China with Taiwan.”

“We urge the U.S. to … stop any form of official U.S.-Taiwan contacts, stop meddling in the Taiwan issue and stop creating new factors of tension in the Taiwan Strait,” Wang said at a daily briefing.

Tensions between the U.S. and China again ratcheted up last month after Washington accused Beijing of sending a spy balloon that was shot down over the American East Coast. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a trip to Beijing in the wake of the incident and said over the weekend that the United States was concerned China would provide weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

China, which has declared a “no limits” friendship with Russia, has pointedly refused to criticize Moscow’s actions, blaming the U.S. and NATO for provoking the Kremlin, and has blasted the punishing sanctions imposed on Russia. Russia, in turn, has strongly backed China over Taiwan.

On a visit to Moscow Tuesday, the Communist Party’s top diplomat Wang Yi said relations between Moscow and Beijing are “solid as a rock” and will “stand the test of the volatile international situation.”

WATCH: Biden in Poland promises U.S. and allies ‘have Ukraine’s back’

Russia and China have an “excellent opportunity to continue close strategic cooperation and contacts to protect our shared strategic interests,” Wang said.

Wang Wenbin, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said he had no information about a possible visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow this spring.

A delegation of U.S. lawmakers visiting Taiwan met on Tuesday with President Tsai Ing-wen, who said she looked for increased cooperation on issues from security to climate change.

On Monday, the delegation met with the head of the legislature as part of their five-day visit. They include Reps. Ro Khanna of California, Tony Gonzales of Texas, Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois.

The congressional team held talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s founder Morris Chang, considered the father of the island’s world-leading microchip industry that is now investing heavily in U.S. production.

Khanna and Auchincloss are both members of the new House select committee focused on competition with China.

Amid the flurry of exchanges, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and head of the National Security Council Wellington Koo were in Washington on Tuesday for what are believed to be security meetings.

They were filmed by Taiwan’s private TVBS television station entering the offices of the body the U.S. uses to oversee relations with Taiwan in lieu of formal diplomatic ties. Washington cut formal relations in 1979 in order to establish ties with Beijing, but remains the island’s chief political and military ally.

China has increasingly lashed back at the increase in exchanges with Taiwan by officials and elected representatives from the U.S. and other democratic nations. China’s campaign of diplomatic isolation has left Taiwan with just 14 formal allies, although it retains robust unofficial relations with dozens of other countries.

Last Thursday, China imposed trade and investment sanctions against Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Technologies Corp.’s Raytheon Missiles and Defense, barring them from importing goods into China or making new investments in the country.

The Ministry of Commerce declared they had been added to the “unreliable entity” list of companies whose activities are restricted because they might endanger national sovereignty, security or development interests. It wasn’t clear what impact the penalties would have.

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Taiwan is paying tourists to visit—here's what you need to know

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Many countries continue to struggle to bring back tourism on the scale that it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Places like Hong Kong and regions in Italy have turned to offering free travel and even free houses to encourage people to visit and to help boost their economies.

The latest place on that list is Taiwan. The government is offering tourists 5,000 New Taiwan dollars (about $163 USD) per traveler or NT$20,000 (about $653 USD) for up to 90,000 tour groups.

According to The Points Guy , Chang Shi-chung, the director-general of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, said the money would be sent via a digital tourist card to ensure the funds go directly to Taiwan's tourism. Travelers will be able to use the cards for food, accommodation, and other travel expenses.

Taiwan is focusing on attracting more visitors from places like Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macao, Europe, and the U.S.

According to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau , it saw under 900,000 visitors in 2022 compared to a record 11.8 million international tourists in 2019 .

It's still unclear when and how Taiwan will start distributing the digital tourist cards, as the government hasn't yet released its plan.

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Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Taiwan, Drawing a Sharp Response From Beijing

China announced plans for live-fire military drills soon after Ms. Pelosi flew into Taiwan. Analysts said Beijing’s move seemed designed to project strength rather than serve as a precursor to an invasion.

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By Paul Mozur ,  Amy Chang Chien and Michael D. Shear

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, casting aside private warnings from the Biden administration about the risk that her high-profile diplomatic visit could stoke a new crisis in Asia and immediately prompting a sharp response from the Chinese government, including new trade restrictions on Taiwan and an announcement of military exercises.

A United States military jet carrying Ms. Pelosi landed in Taipei late at night following weeks of speculation about her travel plans. Her decision to proceed with the trip makes her the highest-ranking congressional official to come to the disputed island in a quarter-century and sets up a tense standoff with China that American officials said could lead to more aggressive military posturing.

“America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy,” she said in a statement issued as she was greeted by Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, adding that the visit did not contradict United States policy on Taiwan.

While the planning for the trip was shrouded in secrecy, the start of it was characterized by more of a carnival atmosphere. Ms. Pelosi arrived to a live video feed, lit-up greetings on Taipei’s tallest building, and packs of supporters and protesters in front of her hotel.

The mood continued on Wednesday morning, when Ms. Pelosi arrived at Taiwan’s legislature with a police escort to meet with a handful of top lawmakers. On one side of the building, a group offering support held up banners welcoming her. On the other, a gathering of pro-China protesters held up signs calling her an “arsonist” and accusing her of interfering in China’s internal affairs. After visiting the legislature, Ms. Pelosi met with President Tsai Ing-wen.

taiwan visit news

China, which bristles at any perceived challenge to its claims on self-ruled Taiwan, had repeatedly warned Ms. Pelosi not to make the visit. Soon after her arrival, Beijing announced plans for live-fire military drills, some in areas overlapping with the island’s territorial waters. In a separate statement, China’s People’s Liberation Army said that it would begin a series of joint naval and air exercises that would include “long-range live firing in the Taiwan Strait.”

The exercises would effectively block access temporarily to some commercial shipping lanes and Taiwanese ports, but analysts said they seemed to be designed to project strength rather than to serve as a precursor to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

“They are not signaling that we are imminently about to go to war,” said Joe McReynolds, senior China analyst at the Washington-based Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis. But he and others said the fast-moving situation could lead to an accidental encounter that could spiral out of control.

China has taken other countermeasures in response to Ms. Pelosi’s trip. On Tuesday, before she arrived, it banned shipments from more than 100 Taiwanese food exporters — an apparent attempt to ratchet up economic pressure. And on Wednesday, the Chinese commerce ministry said it would suspend exports of natural sand to Taiwan.

Before the visit, the United States had urged Beijing not to turn the moment into a crisis. After a telephone call last week between President Biden and Xi Jinping, the president of China, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Ms. Pelosi’s expected visit, saying that “playing with fire will set yourself on fire.”

But Ms. Pelosi, a longtime China critic who visited Tiananmen Square two years after the Chinese military opened fire on student protesters there, was defiant. In her statement, she said that her visit to the island 80 miles off the coast of China was a sign of America’s “unwavering commitment” to supporting Taiwan’s democracy.

“We must stand by Taiwan, which is an island of resilience,” Ms. Pelosi said in an opinion article published on the Washington Post website after she landed. In the article, she called Taiwan “a leader in governance,” a “leader in peace, security and economic dynamism” and a “vibrant, robust democracy.”

In Taiwan’s central business district, Taipei 101, once the world’s tallest building and a major landmark in the city’s skyline, was lit with messages welcoming Ms. Pelosi, the highest-level American official to go to the island since 1997, when Newt Gingrich, then speaker of the House, made a visit.

Ms. Pelosi’s refusal to be dissuaded from making the trip is in keeping with her decades-long efforts to hold China accountable for its actions. She has repeatedly pushed for legislation to benefit Hong Kong and Tibet; hosted the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader; and urged a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics in Beijing.

Her forceful stand on Tuesday was echoed in a rare statement of bipartisan support issued moments after her arrival: More than two dozen Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, wrote that her travel was “consistent with the United States’ One China policy to which we are committed.”

“She’s a high-ranking official in the U.S. government. But it is not unusual,” said Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I was there three months ago with five other senators. We have a longstanding history of visiting Taiwan. And so we can’t let the Chinese say who can and cannot visit Taiwan.”

But the speaker’s arrival was greeted with scorn by Chinese officials, who accused Ms. Pelosi of undermining China’s sovereignty. And her visit comes as China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has made it clearer than any of his predecessors that he sees unifying Taiwan with China to be a primary goal of his rule.

Mr. Xi, who has led China since 2012, is expected to be confirmed to an unprecedented third term as leader at a Communist Party congress in the fall. Ahead of that all-important political meeting, Mr. Xi has been keen to project an image of strength at home and abroad, particularly on the question of Taiwan.

A statement issued by the Chinese Communist Party’s Taiwan Affairs Office said any attempt to seek independence by Taiwan would be “shattered by the powerful force of the Chinese people.”

Long a sore issue in an increasingly fraught U.S.-China relationship, Taiwan — which has its own military and democratically elected government — has emerged as the front line in a geopolitical showdown over influence and power in Asia.

Under Mr. Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, Beijing has taken more aggressive military actions in the region and recently made strong claims over the strait separating Taiwan and China, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Mr. Xi has called for unification with Taiwan as part of China’s national rejuvenation, even potentially by force.

The United States has sent a steady stream of senior officials to show solidarity with Taiwan. Recently, Mr. Biden said he would act to defend Taiwan in the event of a conflict. It was not the first time he had done so , but White House officials have repeatedly walked back those statements, saying a longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the defense of Taiwan remains in place.

Publicly, senior White House officials have said that Ms. Pelosi’s visit does not indicate any change in official policy, and should be viewed by China as no different than any of the other recent visits to Taiwan by members of Congress.

But privately, administration officials made it clear to Ms. Pelosi that her decision to visit Taiwan appeared likely to provoke China at a time when tensions between the two nations are high and the United States is already engaged in helping Ukraine fight its war with Russia.

Ms. Pelosi’s visit has been awkward for Mr. Biden. The speaker and her staff insisted that, as the leader of a separate but coequal branch of the American government, she has the right to go anywhere she desires. And Mr. Biden’s aides stressed that he did not want to be seen as dictating where she can travel.

Officials said Mr. Biden never told Ms. Pelosi not to go. But officials made it clear that her trip could significantly escalate tensions, including the possibility that China would use the visit to justify military action against Taiwan.

As the plane carrying Ms. Pelosi approached Taiwan, several Chinese state media outlets reported that Chinese Su-35 fighter jets were crossing the strait, a claim that Taiwan’s defense ministry called “fake news.” China last sent planes over the median line that runs down the strait in 2020, when Alex Azar, then the U.S. secretary of health and human services, visited Taiwan.

China claims Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to take it back, by force if necessary. In his call with Mr. Biden on Thursday, China’s leader warned the United States against intervening in the dispute.

China’s incursions into airspace and waters near Taiwan have become more aggressive in the past several years, heightening the risk of conflict.

In June, Beijing raised the stakes when the foreign ministry declared that China had jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait and that it could not be considered an international waterway . And in the past year, Chinese military planes have increasingly probed the airspace near Taiwan, prompting Taiwanese fighter jets to scramble.

As a two-term congresswoman from California, Ms. Pelosi visited Beijing in 1991, two years after Chinese troops opened fire on student protesters around Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds if not thousands. Accompanied to the square by several congressional colleagues and a small group of reporters, Ms. Pelosi unfurled a banner commemorating the dead students.

Ms. Pelosi is a strong supporter of the Dalai Lama and the rights of Tibetans. In 2015, with official permission from the Chinese government, she visited Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, on a tightly controlled trip. The region is usually off limits to foreign officials and journalists.

From student demonstrators in Beijing in 1989 to anti-government protests in Hong Kong 30 years later, Ms. Pelosi has consistently supported social movements that critiqued China’s ruling Communist Party. She has also urged China’s leaders to temper their authoritarian policies, criticism that has elicited tart ripostes from Chinese officials.

The Chinese community in San Francisco, which Ms. Pelosi represents, was outwardly very supportive of Taiwan from the 1950s until the early 1990s. Today, it is much more connected to the mainland, partly due to immigration trends and the rise of China’s power and influence in the world, Mr. Lee said.

Dozens of people gathered in San Francisco on Monday to protest the trip, arguing that it could inflame potential war with China. The demonstration included members of the city’s Chinese American community; Code Pink: Women for Peace, an antiwar group; and the U.S. — China Peoples Friendship Association.

Paul Mozur and Amy Chang Chien reported from Taipei, and Michael D. Shear from Washington. Reporting was contributed by Emily Cochrane and Amy Qin from Washington, Thomas Fuller from San Francisco, Jane Perlez and Mike Ives from Seoul, and John Liu from Taipei. Claire Fu contributed research.

Paul Mozur is a correspondent focused on technology and geopolitics in Asia. He was part of a team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. More about Paul Mozur

Amy Chang Chien covers news in mainland China and Taiwan. She is based in Taipei. More about Amy Chang Chien

Michael D. Shear is a veteran White House correspondent and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who was a member of team that won the Public Service Medal for Covid coverage in 2020. He is the co-author of “Border Wars: Inside Trump's Assault on Immigration.” More about Michael D. Shear

Pelosi-Taiwan latest updates: China announces military drills

Taiwan news from August 2: Pelosi’s visit enrages China and risks triggering a major crisis between the two countries.

Nancy Pelosi being greeted by Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu as she arrives in Taipei, Taiwan.

  • US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands in Taiwan .
  • The US sends warships east of Taiwan, increasing military activity ahead of Pelosi’s visit.
  • Chinese planes fly close to the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait, as do Chinese warships, Reuters reports.
  • Russia calls the prospect of Pelosi’s visit “purely provocative” and an attempt to pressure China .

INTERACTIVE- Nancy Pelosi Taiwan map

This live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on Tuesday, August 2:

China’s military reaction ‘predictable’ so far: Expert

China sending planes to Taiwan’s defence zone is “quite predictable”, Divya Gopalan, international editor TaiwanPlus, told Al Jazeera. “The question is, will those planes go further into bonafide Taiwan airspace, then, that will set a precedent and very clearly send a message,” Gopalan said.

“There are questions about whether they would even dare fly over Taiwan’s soil, if that’s the case, that would ratchet up tensions,” she said.

Biden ‘respects’ Pelosi’s decision to visit Taiwan: WH

In response to a reporter’s question about whether US President Joe Biden supports Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, John Kirby, the White House’s National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said:

“The President as a former senator, fully respects, the right and the prerogative, frankly, the responsibility of members of Congress to include the Speaker of the House to travel overseas.”

On whether Biden supports Pelosi's trip to Taipei, John Kirby tells reporters: "He respects the speaker’s decision to travel to Taiwan." — Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) August 2, 2022

Pelosi positioned as a freedom fighter

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi speaking from Washington, DC, said by visiting Taiwan, Pelosi was being portrayed as a “freedom fighter” for democracy.

“As soon as she arrived, various tweets, articles, statements emerged positioning Pelosi as a freedom fighter in the battle against autocracy on behalf of democracy,” he said, which she likened to her trip to Ukraine back in May .

China planning ‘unprecedented’ military exercises: Expert

Taylor Fravel, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology expert on China’s military, said China’s planned exercises appear as though they may be greater in scope than during a Taiwan Strait crisis in 1995 and 1996.

“Taiwan will face military exercises and missile tests from its north, south, east and west. This is unprecedented,” Fravel said.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin backs Pelosi

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia has said that he does not view Pelosi’s trip as a “big deal”.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “They are a peace-loving, they’re a freedom loving country. And we do an awful lot of trade with them,” Manchin told reporters.

“She didn’t take anything to do them harm, and she doesn’t wish China any harm,” he said.

‘Like a hero’: People in Taiwan welcome Pelosi

Pan Kuan, a 30-year-old English teacher gathered Pelosi’s hotel, said the House speaker “is like a hero” for coming to Taiwan and defying China.

“I think this has encouraged all the Taiwanese people. Although there was great pressure from China, she still chose the camp with democracy and freedom, and courageously came to Taiwan,” Kuan told The Associated Press. “She is like a hero. She courageously fought China’s pressure. I think that takes some courage to do so.”

Protest

Taiwan’s FM thanks Pelosi for visit

Taiwan’s foreign ministry thanked Pelosi for her visit and published pictures from the airport in a post on social media.

“Thank you & the congressional delegation for traveling all the way to show support,” the tweet read.

Welcome to #Taiwan , @SpeakerPelosi ! Thank you & the congressional delegation for traveling all the way to show your support. JW pic.twitter.com/Al97hB68aa — 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MOFA_Taiwan) August 2, 2022

Chinese aircraft enter Taiwan’s defence zone: Reports

Quoting Taiwan’s defence ministry, the Reuters news agency reported that 21 Chinese aircraft have entered Taiwan’s defence zone.

Taiwan defence ministry: 21 Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan's air defense zone on Tuesday. — Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) August 2, 2022

Russia says China has right to take measures to protect sovereignty

In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry has said China has the right to take measures to protect its sovereignty.

Earlier, Moscow called Pelosi’s trip a “provocation” and warned that it would put the US on a collision course with China.

Top Republican leader backs Pelosi visit

In a rare show of bipartisan support, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he backed Pelosi’s visit as a display of support for Taiwan’s democracy. He said any allegations that her itinerary was provocative are “utterly absurd”.

“I believe she has every right to go,” McConnell said in a Senate speech.

China’s FM calls Pelosi visit a ‘serious violation’

China’s foreign ministry has issued a statement calling Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan “a serious violation of the one-China principle”.

“It has a severe impact on the political foundation of China-U.S. relations , and seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” according to the statement. “It gravely undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces for ‘Taiwan independence’.”

Pelosi arrives in hotel

Pelosi has arrived at a hotel in Taipei, The Associated Press reported.

Protest

US senator: We can’t let Chinese dictate Pelosi trip

Alaska’s Republican Senator Dan Sullivan says it is important to support Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, because “you do not want the Chinese Communist Party dictating to senior American leaders where they can and cannot travel.”

“We’re supporting the trip and we’re closing ranks behind her,” Sullivan said during a news conference.

Chinese ‘hacktivists’ likely to blame for attacks on Taiwan websites: Researchers

Digital attacks against Taiwanese government websites before Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan were likely launched by Chinese activist hackers, or “hacktivists”, a cybersecurity research organisation has said.

“These are uncoordinated, random, moral-less attacks against websites that Chinese hacktivists use to get their message across,” said Johannes Ullrich, Dean of Research at the SANS Technology Institute, a cybersecurity education and research organisation.

“Usually, it continues for a few days, but they often lose interest within a week. Many of the attacks are motivated by what is written in the Chinese press,” Ullrich added.

China to launch ‘targeted military operations’

The Chinese military has been put on high alert and will launch “targeted military operations” in response to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China’s defence ministry said.

Separately, the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said it will conduct joint military operations near Taiwan starting on Tuesday night, and will test-launch conventional missiles in the sea east of Taiwan.

Senate Republicans show support for Pelosi’s visit

A group of 26 Senate Republicans have issued statement saying in support of Pelosi’s Taiwan visit.

The group includes Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.

Twenty-six Senate Republicans, including McConnell, issue statement saying: “We support Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.” pic.twitter.com/sU9bMlcCQ0 — Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 2, 2022

Iran condemns ‘destabilising’ Pelosi trip

Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned Pelosi’s trip, saying unilateralism and violating international rules have become common practice in US foreign policy.

Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement the trip constitutes an “intervention in the domestic affairs” of China and a “violation of its territorial integrity” that will lead to nothing but increasing destabilisation and differences.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran views respect for the territorial integrity of other countries as a basis of its foreign policy, and supporting the One China policy within this framework is indubitable,” he said.

Pelosi to meet Taiwan’s President

Pelosi is due to meet Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, and have lunch with her, Tsai’s office said, according to the Reuters news agency.

Four sources told Reuters Pelosi was also scheduled on Wednesday afternoon to meet a group of activists who are outspoken about China’s human rights record.

‘We must stand by Taiwan’ Pelosi writes in opinion piece

Pelosi says her visit to Taiwan does not contradict the “long-standing one-China policy”  in an opinion piece  published by The Washington Post shortly after she landed in Taiwan.

The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act “set out America’s commitment to a democratic Taiwan”, she wrote, citing its text that anything other than  peaceful means to determine the future of Taiwan is “a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States”.

Pelosi says China has intensified tensions with Taiwan in recent years.

“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has ramped up patrols of bombers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft near and even over Taiwan’s air defense zone, leading the U.S. Defense Department to conclude that China’s army is “likely preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force”, she wrote.

Pelosi on tarmac

Pelosi says her trip to highlight Taiwan’s ‘vibrant Democracy’

Shortly after landing in Taiwan, Pelosi published a short statement saying the the visit is meant to highlight the US’s “unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant Democracy”.

“America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy,” she said according to the statement.

The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo. Read my full statement on our Congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan here: https://t.co/I2tuY2qFWK — Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 2, 2022

Pelosi lands in Taiwan

Pelosi’s plane has touched down in Taiwan and the US house speaker has descended the steps onto the tarmac in the dark.

While she was met by Taiwan’s foreign minister, there did not appear to be an official ceremony, although Pelosi posed for photographs on the tarmac, and waved at those who had gathered.

A US military aircraft with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on board prepares to land

Pelosi’s plane leaves Malaysia

A plane believed to be carrying Pelosi and her delegation left Malaysia at 07:42 GMT Tuesday after a brief stop there that included a working lunch with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Taiwanese media reported that Pelosi would arrive in Taiwan on Tuesday night. The United Daily News, Liberty Times and China Times — Taiwan’s three largest national newspapers — cited unidentified sources as saying she would spend the night in Taiwan.

China vows to retaliate

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington’s betrayal “on the Taiwan issue is bankrupting its national credibility”.

“Some American politicians are playing with fire on the issue of Taiwan,” Wang said in a statement. “This will definitely not have a good outcome … the exposure of America’s bullying face again shows it as the world’s biggest saboteur of peace.”

Russia backs China in slamming Pelosi’s visit

Russia has backed China over Pelosi’s expected visit to Taiwan, calling it “provocative”.

“We cannot say for sure right now whether she will or will not get there, but everything about this tour and the possible visit to Taiwan is purely provocative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday.

Heightened security and cyberattacks

Barricades were erected outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei where Pelosi was expected to stay amid heightened security.

Unspecified hackers launched a cyberattack on the Taiwanese presidential office’s website, making it temporarily unavailable Tuesday evening. The presidential office said the website was restored shortly after the attack, which overwhelmed it with traffic.

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Us’ mccaul planning taiwan visit, bipartisan support: us senate minority leader mitch mcconnell urged the us senate to stand with taiwan and help improve its defense capabilities to deter china.

  • By Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter

taiwan visit news

US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul on Wednesday announced that he would visit Taiwan later this year and voiced concerns about delays in the delivery of weapons to the nation.

McCaul made the announcement at a reception in Washington celebrating the 45th anniversary of the promulgation of the Taiwan Relations Act and welcoming Representative to the US Alexander Yui (俞大㵢).

The event was cohosted by the US Senate Taiwan Caucus, the US Congressional Taiwan Caucus and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US.

taiwan visit news

US Representative Mike McCaul, left, speaks at an event alongside Representative to the US Alexander Yui, center, and Yui’s wife, Karen Lo, at the US Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.

The act was signed into law by then-US president Jimmy Carter on April 10, 1979, and became retroactively effective from Jan. 1 the same year.

Deterrence is key when facing aggressors and dictators, which was why the US passed the act, McCaul said.

Failing to deliver arms in sales that have already been approved is not in accordance with the act, he said.

Agence France-Presse reported yesterday that McCaul is to attend the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) in May, to which McCaul’s office said it is “unclear” whether he will attend.

Asked about McCaul’s attendance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it has no relevant information so far but visits from US lawmakers and other friends of Taiwan are always welcome.

The office said that 42 members of the US Senate and the US House of Representatives attended the celebration.

US Representative Nancy Pelosi said that sending a delegation to attend the inauguration demonstrates Washington’s commitment to ties with Taiwan, which are beneficial to all.

The act is a reflection of the courage shown by Taiwan and the US, which is a beautiful place with a lot for the world to learn from, said Pelosi, who in 2022 visited the nation when she was House speaker.

US representatives Mario Diaz-Balart and Ami Bera, cochairs of the US Congressional Taiwan Caucus, said that the act and strong bipartisan support from the US Congress are “the cornerstones of the Taiwan-US partnership.”

The relationship between Taiwan and the US has flourished under the act, American Institute in Taiwan Chair Laura Rosenberger said, adding that Taiwan has become a beacon of democracy in the Indo-Pacific region and the world, as well as a technology hub that is a key investment destination and source for US businesses.

Yui pledged to “build upon the solid foundation” laid by his predecessors, including vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), and to work with the US Congress and executive branch to enhance the bilateral relationship, the office said.

Taiwan “deeply appreciates” the strong bipartisan support from the US Congress, Yui said, adding that he hopes a bill providing double taxation relief to Taiwanese businesses and workers in the US would be passed soon.

In related news, US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the US Senate floor urged Washington to stand with Taiwan and invest in the nation’s military capabilities to guard against China.

The passing of the act was “a cornerstone of US foreign policy,” as “our friends ... have continued to write an incredible story of resilience,” McConnell said.

He commended Taiwan’s “strong democracy, a robust civil society and a modern, innovative high-tech economy,” adding that Taiwanese “have planted themselves squarely, squarely on the side of free societies and the free market.”

The Taiwan-US relationship “holds unique value” and “will be increasingly seen as a test of whether America’s commitment to allies and partners hold any water,” he said.

The US “cannot afford to neglect” the strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region, especially when China continues to increase its defense spending and modernize its military, aiming to “redraw the map by force,” he said.

As Taiwan is “clear-eyed about challenges posed by revisionist power today that they’re helping a fellow democracy halfway around the world, Ukraine,” the US should recognize its own interest in maintaining the international order, McConnell said.

“Standing by our friends, standing up to adversaries and investing in the military capacity to do both” are “the fundamental tasks at hand” for the US, he said.

Additional reporting by CNA

This story has been amended since it was first published.

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Canada tightens takeover rules for video games, vr, military readying laser weapon: official, japanese mps prefer taiwan over china visit: report, six of taiwan’s 22 regions are ‘super-aged’, chinese boat was overloaded, speeding.

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WHAT’S IN A NAME? Lawmakers spent 30 minutes arguing over the title of a report on the Feb. 14 incident involving an illegal Chinese boat and the coast guard A Chinese boat that had entered prohibited or restricted waters around Kinmen County last month capsized because it was operating at high speed and was overloaded, and not because it was hit by a Coast Guard Administration (CGA) vessel, Ocean Affairs Council (OCA) Vice Minister and CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told lawmakers yesterday. Chou, along with OCA Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), was at a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee to present a report on the Feb. 14 incident, in which two Chinese fishers fell into the water and drowned

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Complaints abound as Taipei Dome hosts record crowd

A total of 68,780 people attended the two exhibition games to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Japan’s Yomiuri Giants in the Taipei Dome this weekend, but politicians and spectators complained that crowd control was lacking and the roof leaked. Organizers and Taipei Dome operator Farglory Group (遠雄集團) said they had passed the most severe test of the stadium on Saturday. A sellout crowd of 37,890 attended the first game between the Taichung-based CTBC Brothers and the Giants, setting a new record for the largest turnout at a baseball game in Taiwan. The previous record was 25,000 at Kaohsiung’s Chengcing Lake Baseball Stadium

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Taipei criticizes China’s actions after Filipinos hurt

NEIGHBOR: Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary called Beijing’s rapid military buildup a major strategic challenge, and said that Tokyo supports peace in the Taiwan Strait Taiwan yesterday condemned Beijing’s “dangerous” behavior after a collision between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels in the South China Sea left four Filipino crewmembers injured. The nation expresses “grave concern” over the rise in tensions in the disputed waters of the South China Sea and “condemns” Beijing’s activities in the region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The Chinese coast guard has used “water cannons and dangerous maneuvers” to impede Philippine patrol vessels and supply ships near the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) and Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙), which again resulted in a collision on Tuesday,

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Taiwan faces steady 'drip' of pressure as China tightens pre-inauguration squeeze

Shiyu or Lion Islet, which is part of Kinmen County, one of Taiwan's offshore islands, is pictured with China's Xiamen in the background, in Kinmen

'GREY ZONE'

Reporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom. Editing by Gerry Doyle

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Thomson Reuters

Yimou Lee is a Senior Correspondent for Reuters covering everything from Taiwan, including sensitive Taiwan-China relations, China's military aggression and Taiwan's key role as a global semiconductor powerhouse. A three-time SOPA award winner, his reporting from Hong Kong, China, Myanmar and Taiwan over the past decade includes Myanmar's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, Hong Kong protests and Taiwan's battle against China's multifront campaigns to absorb the island.

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What Whitmer’s second Taiwan visit in 6 months means for Michigan

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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer answers media questions after a roundtable discussion about the Lowering MI Costs plan at the Saginaw Fire Department located at 801 Federal Avenue on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com

This week, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer became the latest in a series of U.S. governors to meet with the Taiwanese president amid a period of particularly heightened tensions between the island and mainland China.

“We are sharing our story around the world and competing with other nations to bring jobs, projects and supply chains back home to Michigan,” Whitmer said in a statement. “On this economic development mission, I am excited to open the Michigan Taiwan Office and continue forging strong relationships with partners around the globe. Team Michigan stands united as we work together to build a brighter future. Through our innovative businesses and comprehensive economic development efforts, we are all working together to build something special here.”

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Pelosi’s Taiwan visit captivates public in China and Taiwan

Residents read a newspaper with a photo of a plane carrying U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands at Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan with a headline reporting "Our series of military exercises are aimed at Pelosi channeling Taiwan" at a stand in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. After weeks of threatening rhetoric, China stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the U.S. over the visit of Pelosi to Taiwan. The response disappointed some Chinese, who asked why no action was taken to stop her. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Residents read a newspaper with a photo of a plane carrying U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands at Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan with a headline reporting “Our series of military exercises are aimed at Pelosi channeling Taiwan” at a stand in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. After weeks of threatening rhetoric, China stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the U.S. over the visit of Pelosi to Taiwan. The response disappointed some Chinese, who asked why no action was taken to stop her. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A man reads a newspaper with a photo of a plane carrying U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands at Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan with a headline reporting “Our series of military exercises are aimed at Pelosi channeling Taiwan” at a stand in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. After weeks of threatening rhetoric, China stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the U.S. over the visit of Pelosi to Taiwan. The response disappointed some Chinese, who asked why no action was taken to stop her. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Residents read daily newspapers at a stand in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. After weeks of threatening rhetoric, China stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the U.S. over the visit of Pelosi to Taiwan. The response disappointed some Chinese, who asked why no action was taken to stop her. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A man leaves after reading a newspaper with a photo of a plane carrying U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands at Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan with a headline reporting “Our series of military exercises are aimed at Pelosi channeling Taiwan” at a stand in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. After weeks of threatening rhetoric, China stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the U.S. over the visit of Pelosi to Taiwan. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Pro-China supporters hold U.S. flag and a picture of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a protest outside the Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Pro-China supporters throw eggs on a picture of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a protest outside the Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Pro-China supporters step on a picture of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a protest outside the Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A paramilitary policeman stands guard outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Uniformed and plainclothes security officers stand guard outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Chinese policemen stand on duty outside the United States Embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese paramilitary policemen march past the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese military personnel past by the United States Embassy near a police car in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A man wearing a mask walks outside the United States Embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A man rubs his forehead as he reads a newspaper headline reporting “U.S. Taiwan staring anxiously on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi” at a stand in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Pelosi arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday for the second leg of an Asian tour that has been overshadowed by an expected stop in Taiwan, which would escalate tensions with Beijing that claims the self-ruled island as its own territory. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

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BEIJING (AP) — A few Chinese old-timers read the pages of a newspaper on Wednesday hung up behind glass on an outdoor display board in a relic of pre-smartphone days, when that’s how people in China got the news.

Wang Junzhong, 70, peered at an editorial in the Global Times, an outspoken, fiercely nationalistic voice of the ruling Communist Party. The headline read, “To safeguard national sovereignty and security, the Chinese military dares to show the spirit of the sword.”

After weeks of threatening rhetoric, China showed the spirit but stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the U.S. over the visit to Taiwan of a senior American politician, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Instead, it opted for military drills as a show of force, sending fighter jets into the air and scrambling crews on navy ships in simulated emergencies after Pelosi defied Chinese warnings and flew into Taiwan on a U.S. government plane on Tuesday night.

The failure to stop Pelosi from visiting Taiwan — a self-governing island that China claims as its territory — disappointed some Chinese who had been riled up by the government’s tough words ahead of her trip. But Wang, in long sleeves and long pants despite the muggy weather, expressed understanding.

“If China didn’t care about its people, it could just go ahead and use force,” Wang said. “If China cares about its people, it’s fine to tolerate for now. There is not much we can do. I think the leaders are facing a dilemma.”

Bringing Taiwan, an island of 23 million people just 160 kilometers (100 miles) off China’s east coast, under Chinese control is a longstanding goal of the Communist Party. Its leaders say that Taiwan is part of China and that the U.S. and other countries have no right to meddle in what it considers a domestic issue.

The U.S., under a one-China policy, doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a nation but maintains informal relations and defense ties with its government — to China’s displeasure. But China is loath to get into a war with the United States, even as it adds aircraft carriers and high-tech weaponry to its forces.

“This is for sure because China and the U.S. need each other in trade and other aspects,” said Song Ao, a 21-year-old university student. “I think we must exert pressure in response to Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, but not fight.”

The Chinese military drills concerned both officials and some residents in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital. China said it had launched live-fire exercises on Tuesday night and announced drills starting Thursday in six offshore areas that a Taiwanese military official described as “sealing off Taiwan by air and sea.”

The drills may be routine but they are too close to Taiwan, said David Hong, a retired Taiwanese American financial consultant who was outside the legislature on Wednesday to try to catch a glimpse of Pelosi.

“It shows their ambitions,” he said. “We need to stop them. No more invasion.”

Crowds waited for Pelosi’s arrival outside her hotel on Tuesday night, and some applauded as her motorcade, escorted by police cars with flashing lights, zipped by and entered an underground parking area.

Pan Kuan, a 30-year-old English teacher, said the U.S. House speaker showed courage by going ahead with her trip.

“Although there was a great pressure from China, she still chose the camp with democracy and freedom, and courageously came to Taiwan,” he said. “She is like a hero. She courageously fought China’s pressure. I think that takes some courage to do so.”

An almost equal-sized crowd of pro-Beijing protesters also gathered outside the Grand Hyatt hotel, cursing Pelosi and telling her to leave.

Supporters of Beijing also protested outside the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong on Wednesday, holding up signs and ripping American flags in groups of four to abide by COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings.

They shouted “Pelosi, get out of Taiwan,” “Destroying China-US relations” and other slogans and threw eggs at a photo of Pelosi.

There were no public protests in Beijing, where both plainclothes and uniformed security personnel were posted around the U.S. Embassy and the Foreign Ministry.

After seeing Pelosi’s plane land, shown live by some Chinese digital news outlets, many in China rushed to the social media account of Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian — who had been issuing threats for days — to express disappointment that no strong action was taken to stop her. Others expressed support for the government’s approach.

“They shouldn’t have talked big in the beginning,” Wang said. “If they had played it down, people wouldn’t feel repulsed. Because they gave away too much, it became difficult to wind up. After all, we didn’t want to use force when she came to visit.”

Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing and video journalists Taijing Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, and Katie Tam in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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Tuvalu

Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister heads to Tuvalu to cement ties with Pacific ally

Tien Chung-kwang’s visit comes after Tuvalu’s new government vowed to stick with Taipei amid speculation it may switch allegiances to Beijing

Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister has embarked on a visit to diplomatic ally Tuvalu , officials said, after the Pacific island nation’s new government affirmed its “special” relationship with Taipei.

Tien Chung-kwang left for the visit on Monday as a special envoy for president Tsai Ing-wen to congratulate and show support for Tuvalu’s new government, said foreign ministry official Eric Chen.

Tien will attend celebrations for the new government and meet top officials including new prime minister Feleti Teo to discuss bilateral cooperation before returning on Saturday, Chen said on Tuesday.

The visit “demonstrates the solid ties between the two countries … as this year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Tuvalu,” the foreign ministry said in a separate statement.

“In the future, Taiwan and Tuvalu will continue to work together … to promote sustainability, peace, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”

The visit comes after Tuvalu’s new government vowed last week to keep up its “special” relationship with Taiwan, ending speculation that the Pacific island nation was poised to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing.

Tuvalu, with a population of about 11,000, is one of just 12 countries that still maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taipei rather than Beijing, including three in the Pacific.

During the election campaign, senior lawmaker Seve Paeniu had floated the idea that Tuvalu’s new government could review its Taiwan ties.

That set off frenzied speculation about a looming shift in policy, causing the election to be closely watched from the United States to China .

Neighbouring Nauru switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in January, just days after presidential elections in Taiwan.

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China says U.S. is ‘obsessed’ with suppressing its rise

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BEIJING — China ’s foreign minister said Thursday that the United States was “obsessed” with suppressing China, potentially jeopardizing efforts to strengthen relations between the world’s two biggest economies.

Relations fell to their lowest point in decades last year amid disputes over tech, trade, human rights, the status of Taiwan , an alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down over the U.S., and Beijing’s position on wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said there had been “some improvements” in U.S.-China relations since Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping held a summit in California in November, their first encounter in a year. But the U.S. still has misperceptions about China and is seeking to restrict its development, Wang said, with the list of unilateral sanctions on Chinese tech and other companies “reaching bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity.”

“If the United States says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major country?” he said at a wide-ranging news conference in Beijing on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp legislature . “If it gets jittery every time it hears the word ‘China,’ where is its confidence as a major country?”

“The challenges the U.S. faces lie within itself, not in China,” Wang continued, noting that this year is the 45th anniversary of the establishment of formal U.S.-China relations. “If the United States is obsessed with suppressing China, it will eventually harm itself.”

Wang, 70, a former foreign minister who also holds a separate title as China’s top diplomat, returned to the foreign minister role last year after his successor, Qin Gang , was removed from his post without explanation about six months into the job. Qin has not been seen in public since last June.

The meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing this week had been seen as a potential opportunity to announce a new foreign minister, though that now appears unlikely.

On the Israel-Hamas war , Wang called for an immediate cease-fire, the release of all detainees and the provision of humanitarian aid, saying the “long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories cannot be ignored.”

“Only by delivering justice to the Palestinian people and fully implementing a two-state solution can we break the vicious cycle of the Israel-Palestine conflict,” he said.

Wang also addressed tensions in the South China Sea , a strategic shipping route that Beijing claims virtually in its entirety, giving rise to territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam and other neighbors in Southeast Asia.

This week, Philippine officials accused Chinese ships of blocking a resupply mission for soldiers stationed at the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef that is claimed by China, the Philippines and others. Video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard showed a Chinese vessel using water cannon against the supply boat, shattering the windshield.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday that the Philippines had violated Chinese territorial sovereignty and that China’s operations were “professional, restrained, justified and lawful.”

“In the face of unwarranted provocation, we will respond with prompt and legitimate countermeasures,” Wang said Thursday.

On Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy that Beijing claims as its territory, Wang said that elections held on the island in January “are just local elections in one part of China.”

“The result does not change even in the slightest terms the basic fact that Taiwan is part of China,” he said.

Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s 23 million people can decide its future. The winner of the presidential election, Vice President Lai Ching-te, favors maintaining the status quo but is regarded by Beijing as a separatist and “troublemaker.”

Wang said that while China will continue to strive for “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, Beijing’s bottom line is “quite clear: We will never allow Taiwan to be separated from the Chinese motherland.”

Jennifer Jett is the Asia Digital Editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.

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The latest thorn in Taiwan-China tensions: pineapples

Emily Feng at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., March 19, 2019. (photo by Allison Shelley)

Taiwan is looking to further restrict which seeds and saplings can be brought out of the island after accusing China of taking a pineapple cultivar developed in Taiwan. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Taiwan is looking to further restrict which seeds and saplings can be brought out of the island after accusing China of taking a pineapple cultivar developed in Taiwan.

CHIAYI, Taiwan — For 24 years, plant scientist Kuang Ching-shan planted, then culled round after round of pineapple sprouts, hoping to develop a new cultivar of the tart fruit. In 2018, he finally hit the mark: a small, golden-yellow fruit with the luscious aroma of a mango.

His euphoria soon turned into helplessness, however. Last year, Taiwanese authorities discovered the patented fruit he had developed was somehow being sold in China.

"Do I care that China is planting my pineapples? It is hard to answer this question because my opinion cannot change anything," he tells NPR, sitting in his office in southern Taiwan, surrounded by plant cuttings and plates of fresh-cut pineapple.

Taiwan's deputy agricultural minister, Chen Junne-jih, is more blunt, calling the case blatant "robbery" and accusing China of agricultural pilfering spanning decades. Taiwan rice variants, orchid blooms, tea bushes, soybean sprouts, and edible fungi all have mysteriously been transplanted in China from Taiwan.

Taiwan is a self-governing democracy, but China's government in Beijing claims it as a province of its own that must unify with the mainland.

Beijing has cut off nearly all political exchanges with Taiwan, and cultural and economic ties between the two have plummeted. In the absence of more direct avenues to pressure the authorities in Taipei, the China has turned to agricultural proxies, like the humble pineapple, to turn the screws on Taiwan.

taiwan visit news

Pineapples sit in containers after being picked in Taiwan. China's alleged theft of a cultivar of the fruit has caused tensions. Emily Feng/NPR hide caption

Pineapples sit in containers after being picked in Taiwan. China's alleged theft of a cultivar of the fruit has caused tensions.

The alleged theft of Taiwan's mango pineapple — formerly called Tainong No. 23 — has set into motion a debate across Taiwan on how to counter Chinese economic coercion and political influence. China had already banned imports of Taiwanese mangoes and actively encourages Taiwan-patented variants to be grown in China as part of unification efforts.

The alleged theft also highlights the challenges of Taiwan's diplomatic isolation . China has prevented the island from joining international institutions like the United Nations and its related organizations, including the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants , the primary multilateral organization for adjudicating cross-border agricultural disputes over intellectual property.

Starting in March, Taiwan will further restrict which seeds and saplings can be brought out of the island, in response to the mango pineapple case.

"Freedom pineapples"

Pineapples have outsize cultural importance in Taiwan. The tropical Asian island has made a name for itself by developing dozens of cultivars of the fruit, and today there are sour ones, sweet ones and a delectably named "champagne" pineapple on the market, named for the pale, creamy color of the flesh.

How a Pineapple Illustrates Relations Between China and Taiwan

State of the World from NPR

How a pineapple illustrates relations between china and taiwan.

Kuang began his career at a local branch of an Agricultural Ministry research institute in Chiayi, a county in southwestern Taiwan, in 1994. He came to study with another famed plant researcher who developed Taiwan's most popular pineapple , the Golden Diamond cultivar . The cultivar found a lucrative market in China, and by 2021, Taiwan was exporting some 97% of its Golden Diamonds to China.

But in March 2021, China banned Golden Diamond imports, forcing Taiwanese regulators to shell out billions of dollars in subsidies to farmers as pineapple prices cratered. China said it had discovered pests in the fruit. Similar bans on Taiwanese grouper fish and sugar apples followed.

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This aerial photo taken on March 16, 2021, shows farmers harvesting pineapples in Pingtung county in southern Taiwan. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

This aerial photo taken on March 16, 2021, shows farmers harvesting pineapples in Pingtung county in southern Taiwan.

Taiwanese leaders decried these moves as economic coercion: punishing voters in agriculture-dependent districts when cross-strait ties worsen and creating pressure in Taiwan to vote for more China-friendly policies in the future.

Within Taiwan, eating pineapples became an act of patriotism . Taiwan's foreign minister dubbed the tropical fruit "the freedom pineapple," explicitly turning the spiky fruit into a symbol of Taiwan identity against Chinese aggression. The discovery in 2023 that Chinese farmers were advertising the mango pineapple especially galling.

Advertisements for the mango pineapple on Taobao, a mainstream Chinese e-commerce site, claim the fruit is being grown on the tropical Chinese island province of Hainan. More than 250 square miles of mango pineapple fields have already been planted, mostly clustered in Chengmai county, according to a Chinese media reports.

NPR reached a farmer in Chengmai county who confirmed growing the Taiwanese mango pineapple. The farmer's first batch of pineapples had ripened last April, and the second batch matured this past December. (Pineapples mature in roughly 18-month cycles.)

Wang Heng, chairman of Chengmai county's pineapple association in Hainan, tells NPR by phone that the county has been commercially growing cultivar Tainong No. 23, the mango pineapple, since 2017 — three years before the cultivar was even commercially available in Taiwan.

Taiwanese officials say they are not surprised. Chen, the deputy agriculture minister, says in 2017, he visited a plant research institute in China. "They had Taiwan's plant variants from our No. 1, 2, all the way to number 22. They flaunted them to us. They were not ashamed about having them at all."

"The development history of agricultural intellectual property began a bit later in China," said Fang Yidan, director of the Chiayi Agricultural Research Institute. "As long as new cultivars emerge [in Taiwan], they are very easily taken to other countries to be grown, through all sorts of means."

Made in Taiwan, grown in China

So, how did Taiwan's mango pineapple end up in China?

Agriculture experts believe Taiwanese farmers likely smuggled the saplings into China, despite Taiwanese laws strictly forbidding people from taking seeds and sprouts off the island with them.

China openly admits it grows several Taiwanese cultivars on a commercial scale. "Our Taiwanese compatriots [have] really contributed a lot, because some 80% of the fruits we grow here in Hainan island are from Taiwan. Taiwanese plant varieties have really carried our entire fruit industry here," says Wang, the pineapple association chairman in China's Chengmai county.

China has made agricultural transfers of technology a key component of ongoing policies designed to draw Taiwan closer into China's political and economic influence. It has set up farms within nearly three dozen " pioneer parks " along its southern coastal provinces, across the strait from Taiwan. The parks offer subsidized agricultural land, water and electricity to Taiwanese farmers who are willing to bring their know-how to China.

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This aerial photo taken in March 2021 shows crates of pineapples being sorted at a warehouse in Taiwan. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

This aerial photo taken in March 2021 shows crates of pineapples being sorted at a warehouse in Taiwan.

"China's usual tactic is to send familiar Taiwanese businessmen or Taiwanese farmers back to Taiwan to persuade Taiwanese farmers to develop in China. In name, it is to jointly develop land and share benefits. In fact, it is to steal technology openly," a Taiwanese newspaper alleged in 2010.

China's vastly bigger consumer market is a big draw for farmers, says one of Taiwan's bigger commercial pineapple growers. He declined to be named because he continues to sell fruit to China and is worried about losing business for talking about cross-strait relations.

"The biggest reason Taiwanese farmers do it is for the money," says Lin Shu-yang, a farmer from southern Taiwan. He did consulting work for private Chinese rice farms and does not grow or sell pineapples. But he says he knows other Taiwanese farmers who have smuggled seeds and saplings into China, tempted by potentially big payouts and generous Chinese state subsidies.

"In Taiwan they have to work so hard, but the profit margins are thin. When you go to China, your profits are higher. Why would you do the same thing for less money?" he says.

Earlier this year, China's cabinet-like State Council reaffirmed the role cross-straits agricultural should play in establishing closer ties with Taiwan. "In a few years, it may be cheaper for people in the central plains to eat Taiwanese fruits," says a 2012 article published by a municipal-level office for China's Taiwan Affairs Office in China's Xiuwu county.

Whose fruit is it, anyway?

In the last two decades, Taiwan has investigated what it alleges is the illegal transfer of orchids, poinsettia flowers, Golden Diamond pineapples , edamame beans and Oolong tea leaves. From Beijing's perspective, this transfer is perfectly legal: they believe Taiwan belongs to China and so do Taiwan's plants.

Wang, the pineapple association chairman on China's Hainan island, says Taiwan cannot have exclusive claim to plants, especially if the same cultivars can thrive elsewhere.

"This may sound impolite to say, but in reality, China's Hainan is the best suited for growing pineapples, not Taiwan. Hainan has no typhoons and no winter frosts, unlike Taiwan," says Wang. "You can only claim something as your local specialty if it is fixed and unmovable." This runs counter to international agricultural law, including a convention China is party to, which allows breeders patented rights over distinct variants they develop.

taiwan visit news

Officials from the Agriculture Bank of Taiwan pose at a press conference to promote domestically grown pineapples and their exports, at the bank's headquarters in Taipei on March 5, 2021. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Officials from the Agriculture Bank of Taiwan pose at a press conference to promote domestically grown pineapples and their exports, at the bank's headquarters in Taipei on March 5, 2021.

Earlier this year, Taiwan's legislature amended its laws to increase the maximum fines and detention time for those caught taking seeds and saplings out of Taiwan. However, it has little recourse to force China to comply with agricultural intellectual property investigations.

In 2010, Taiwan and China set up a cross-straits plant patent working group to allow agricultural officials from both sides to communicate regularly. Chen, Taiwan's deputy agricultural minister, says in 2016, China simply stopped responding to the working group's requests and the group has ceased functioning since then.

"In 2016, they cut off communications with Taiwan. That is how China is: They talk to you when they want to, and when they don't want to, they just ignore you," Chen says.

Taiwan can alert friendly countries like Japan and the United States so they will not accept Chinese imports of allegedly stolen plants and fruits. But Taiwan can do little if its own citizens bring the plants to China.

"There are a lot of Taiwanese farmers going to China. They have all sorts of methods to do so. The Taiwanese government has its policy, but farmers themselves have different considerations," says Lin, the rice farmer in southern Taiwan.

As for Kuang, the plant scientist, he says he does not concern himself with cross-strait politics. He it too busy maintaining his fruit fields, in search of developing the next cultivar.

"I never get tired of pineapples," he says.

Aowen Cao contributed research from Beijing. Hugo Peng contributed research from Taipei and Chiayi county, Taiwan.

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