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Nancy Pelosi Refuses To Speak On Taiwan-China Row During Visit To South Korea
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives;
Nancy Pelosi has met South Korean political leaders in Seoul but avoided making direct public comments on relations with China and Taiwan that could increase regional tensions. Which is a wise thing to do.
In response, China on Thursday began military exercises, including missile strike training, in six zones surrounding Taiwan, in what could be the biggest of their kind since the mid-1990s.
After visiting Taiwan, Ms. Pelosi and other members of her congressional delegation flew to South Korea — a key US ally where about 28,500 American troops are deployed — as part of an Asian tour that included earlier stops in Singapore and Malaysia.
Ms. Pelosi is the first House speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years. She met South Korean National Assembly speaker Kim Jin Pyo and other senior members of parliament on Thursday.
After that hour-long meeting, Ms. Pelosi spoke about the bilateral alliance, forged in blood during the 1950-53 Korean War, and legislative efforts to boost ties, but did not directly mention her Taiwan visit or the Chinese protests.
“We also come to say to you that a friendship, a relationship that began from urgency and security, many years ago, has become the warmest of friendships,” Ms. Pelosi said in a joint news conference with Mr. Kim.
“We want to advance security, economy, and governance in an inter-parliamentary way.”
Mr. Kim said he and Ms. Pelosi shared concerns about North Korea’s increasing nuclear threat. He said the two agreed to support their governments’ push for denuclearisation and peace on the Korean peninsula based on both strong deterrence against Pyongyang and diplomacy. Ms. Pelosi and her delegation later spoke by phone with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on the alliance, foreign policy, and other issues.
Mr. Yoon is on holiday this week, but critics accuse him of intentionally shunning a face-to-face meeting with Ms. Nancy Pelosi in consideration of ties with China, South Korea’s biggest trading partner. Mr. Yoon’s office said it had reviewed national interests.
In recent years, South Korea has been struggling to strike a balance between the US and China as their rivalry has deepened. Mr. Yoon, a conservative, took office in May with a vow to boost South Korea’s military alliance with the US and take a tougher line on North Korean provocations.
