Pelosi: US cannot allow China's 'new normal' over Taiwan
'What we saw with China is that they were trying to establish sort of a new normal,' says Pelosi
United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday the US could not allow China to normalize the new level of pressure on Taiwan it asserted with days of military drills.
This comes following Pelosi's visit to the Chinese-claimed island.
"What we saw with China is that they were trying to establish sort of a new normal. And we just can't let that happen," Pelosi told a news conference with four other Democratic House members who accompanied her on the trip to Asia, according to Reuters.
China said on Wednesday it had "completed various tasks" around Taiwan but will continue regular patrols, potentially signaling an end to days of war games while keeping up the pressure on the self-ruled island.
Furious at Pelosi's visit to Taipei last week, a vocal critic of China for decades who stands second in line of succession for the US presidency, China had extended its largest-ever exercises around the self-ruled island it claims as its own beyond the four days initially scheduled.
"We went there to praise Taiwan. We went there to show our friendship, to say China cannot isolate Taiwan," Pelosi said.
She laughed when asked about China's announcement that it was sanctioning her and her immediate family. "Who cares?" Pelosi said. "That is incidental to me, of no relevance whatsoever."