House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that the United States cannot allow China to normalize the new level of pressure on Taiwan, which it affirmed with days of military exercises following her visit to the island.
“What we saw with China is that they were trying to establish a kind of new normal. And we can’t let that happen,” Pelosi said at a news conference with four other Democratic members of the House of Representatives who accompanied her on the trip. to Asia.
China said on Wednesday it had “completed various tasks” around Taiwan but would continue regular patrols, potentially signaling an end to days of war games, while maintaining pressure on the self-ruled island.
Furious over Pelosi’s visit to Taipei last week, China has stepped up its biggest exercises around the island it claims as its own.
“We went there to praise Taiwan. We went there to show our friendship, to say that China cannot isolate Taiwan,” Pelosi said.
She laughed when asked about China’s announcement to sanction her and her immediate family. “Who cares,” Pelosi said, “that’s an accessory to me, it doesn’t matter at all.”
