MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pelosi leaves Taiwan after less than 24 hours on the island

“America's commitment to the people of Taiwan will remain unchanged,” Pelosi vowed

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday left Taipei after promising that “the United States will not abandon Taiwan,” thus concluding an official trip that had upped tensions between Washington and Beijing and due to which military preparations on both sides had escalated.

“Let no one be mistaken: America's commitment to the people of Taiwan will remain unchanged now and for decades to come,” Pelosi said upon boarding her airplane after spending less than 24 hours on the island.

She had time nevertheless to be presented with an award from President Tsai Ing-wen for her “support.”

Pelosi described Taiwan as a “model for the region,” in contrast to China. She also praised “the Taiwanese people and their courage in becoming a more democratic country.”

In the afternoon, the US Congresswoman met in the Taiwanese capital with human rights activists including Wuer Kaixi, one of the leaders of the student movement that led the 1989 protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Pelosi also spoke with Lam Wing-kee, the bookseller who was arrested and interrogated for selling works banned by Beijing in his Hong Kong store, as well as with activist Lee Ming-che, imprisoned for “subversion” in China between 2017 and 2022.

Taiwan, with which the US does not maintain official relations, is one of the major sources of conflict between China and the US, mainly because Washington is the island's main arms supplier and would be its greatest military ally in the event of a war with the Asian giant.

Beijing insists on “reunifying” the People's Republic with the island, which has been governed autonomously since 1949 after losing the civil war against the Communists.