SEOUL, South Korea – After angering China during her trip to Taiwan, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met South Korean political leaders in Seoul on Thursday but declined to make direct public comments that could further escalate regional tensions in relations with Beijing and Taipei.
Pelosi, the first Speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years, said in Taipei on Wednesday that the US commitment to democracy on the self-governing island and elsewhere is “ironclad”. In response, China on Thursday launched military exercises, including missile strike training, in six areas around Taiwan, which could be the largest of their kind since the mid-1990s.
After visiting Taiwan, Pelosi and other members of her congressional delegation flew to South Korea – a key US ally where about 28,500 US troops are stationed – on Wednesday evening, as part of an Asian tour that included earlier stops in Singapore and Malaysia. After South Korea, Pelosi will go to Japan.
She met with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and other senior members of parliament on Thursday. After that hour-long meeting, Pelosi talked 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 visit to Taiwan or the Chinese opposition.
Pelosi on Taiwan:Pelosi strongly supports Taiwan democracy; The US is ready for China’s military exercises
“We’re also here to tell you that the friendship (the) relationship that began many years ago out of urgency and security has become the warmest of friendships,” Pelosi said at a joint press conference with Kim. “We want to advance security, economy and governance inter-parliamentarily.”
Neither Pelosi nor Kim took questions from reporters.
Kim said he and Pelosi shared concerns about North Korea’s growing nuclear threat. He said both agreed to support his government’s efforts for denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula, based on both strong deterrence and diplomacy against North Korea.
Pelosi and her delegation later spoke by phone with South Korean President Eun Suk-yeol on alliances, foreign policy and other issues. Yoon is on vacation this week, but critics have accused him of deliberately skipping a face-to-face meeting with Pelosi, given his ties to China, South Korea’s biggest trading partner. Yoon’s office said it had reviewed the national interests and that Yoon’s vacation plans were already set when, about two weeks ago, Pelosi’s side contacted her office about a possible meeting.
During the phone conversation, Pelosi and other members of her congressional delegation did not raise the issue of Taiwan, and Yun did not raise the issue either, Yun’s office said.
In recent years, South Korea has struggled to strike a balance between the United States and China as their rivalry has deepened. Yun, a conservative, took office in May with a promise to boost South Korea’s military alliance with the United States and take a hard line on North Korean provocations.
Pelosi is expected to visit the North Korean border
Later Thursday, Pelosi was scheduled to visit the border area with North Korea, which is controlled jointly by the U.S.-led United Nations Command and North Korea, South Korean officials said. If that visit happens, Pelosi will be the highest-ranking American to visit the Joint Security Area since then-President Donald Trump visited in 2019 for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Yun said Pelosi’s visit to the JSA would demonstrate “strong resistance against North Korea” by allies, said Kim Tae-hyo, a vice presidential national security adviser.
Sitting within the 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone, a buffer created at the end of the Korean War, the JSA is the site of past bloodshed and the site of many negotiations. US presidents and other top officials have traveled to the JSA and other border areas to reaffirm their security commitment to South Korea.
Any statement by Pelosi criticizing North Korea is sure to draw a furious response. On Wednesday, the North’s foreign ministry criticized the United States for his visit to Taiwan, saying, “The current situation clearly shows that the US’s ruthless interference in the internal affairs of other countries … (the) persecution is the root cause of peace and security in the region.”
Chinese military exercises begin
Chinese military drills began on Thursday and are planned to last until Sunday, involving its navy, air force and other departments. They include missile attacks on targets in the island’s north and south seas, echoing the last major Chinese military exercises in 1995 and 1996 aimed at intimidating Taiwan’s leaders and voters.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the drills were joint operations focusing on “blockades, sea target attacks, strikes on land targets and airspace control”.
Taiwan has put its military on alert and held civil defense drills, while the US has several naval assets in the region. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense called the Chinese exercise “an unreasonable act in an attempt to change the status quo, destroy peace and stability in the region.”
China views Taiwan as a province it can subdue by force if necessary. It considers visits to Taiwan by foreign officials as recognition of its sovereignty.
“The world today faces a choice between democracy and autocracy,” Pelosi said in a brief speech Wednesday during a meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. “Here America’s determination to preserve democracy in Taiwan and around the world is ironclad.”
The Biden administration and Pelosi have said the United States remains committed to a “one-China policy,” which recognizes Beijing as China’s sole, legitimate government but allows informal ties and defense ties with Taipei. The administration discouraged but did not prevent Pelosi from visiting.
Pelosi noted on Taiwan that congressional support for Taiwan is bipartisan, and she praised the island’s democracy. She stopped short of stating that the US would defend Taiwan militarily and emphasized that “Congress is committed to Taiwan’s security so that Taiwan can most effectively defend itself.”
“Taiwan will not back down in the face of a deliberately heightened military threat,” Tsai said in a meeting with Pelosi.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told ABC’s “Good Morning America” Wednesday that U.S. officials “don’t believe we’re at the edge right now, and there’s no reason for anyone to talk about being on the brink of going any further.”
On Thursday, the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations called for calm in the Taiwan Strait, which separates mainland China and Taiwan, and urged no “provocative actions”. ASEAN foreign ministers, meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for a regional forum, said they were concerned the situation could “destabilize the region and ultimately lead to miscalculations, serious confrontations, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among major powers.”
Pelosi’s focus has always been the same, she said, going back to her 1991 visit to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, when she and other lawmakers unfurled a small banner endorsing democracy in the square after a bloody military crackdown on protesters. The visit was also about human rights and what he called the transfer of dangerous technology to “rogue countries”.
China and Taiwan, which split after a civil war in 1949, have no official ties but have a multibillion-dollar trade relationship.
Wu reported from Taipei, Taiwan. Associated Press writer David Rising in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report.