Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday evening, despite warnings from Beijing of serious consequences.
She becomes the most prominent American leader to visit what Beijing considers to be a rebel province in mainland China in 25 years.
Ms. Pelosi’s visit has ratcheted up tensions between China and the United States. China claims Taiwan is its own and occasionally threatens to annex it by force, and it views any visit by a foreign leader as recognition of the island’s independence.
China had warned of “determined and strong action” if Ms Pelosi went ahead with her visit, without providing further details. It is believed that it could organize muscular military maneuvers or send its planes and ships into areas controlled by Taiwan.
The Biden administration had not formally asked Ms. Pelosi to give up her visit, while seeking to reassure Beijing that this did not constitute a change in American policy towards Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a statement accused US politicians of “playing with fire with Taiwan”.
The plane of Ms Pelosi and her entourage had departed from Malaysia earlier on Tuesday, after a brief stopover to meet Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Security barriers have been erected around the Grand Hyatt hotel in Taipei where Ms Pelosi is expected to stay.
Shortly before Ms Pelosi’s scheduled arrival, the Chinese state media reported that two Chinese Su-35 fighters were “crossing” the strait that separates mainland China from Taiwan. It is not known where they were heading or what their mission was.
The army operation aims to “resolutely uphold national sovereignty and territorial integrity and firmly thwart outside interference and separatist attempts for Taiwan independence”, said Wu Qian, a Chinese ministry spokesperson. of the defense.
Unidentified hackers managed to temporarily cripple the website of Taiwan’s presidential office on Tuesday night.
Ms Pelosi is due to travel to Japan and South Korea over the next few days.
With Agence France-Presse