Peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific topped the agenda when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday morning, following the veteran congresswoman’s trip to Taiwan earlier in the week — a visit that has sparked a huge buildup of Chinese military activity around the island.
The visit of Pelosi — second in the line of U.S. presidential succession — has led to strong rhetoric from Beijing and an array of Chinese military operations, including the firing of five ballistic missiles into neighboring Japan’s exclusive economic zone. In a major escalation, some of those projectiles flew over Taipei, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry.
At a news conference following Pelosi’s morning meeting with Kishida, the California Democrat was defiant in asserting the right of U.S. officials to visit their Asia-Pacific allies — including Taiwan.
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