US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in Japan on the final leg of an Asian trip that included a brief and unannounced stop in Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own, on the visit of a top US official on the 25th. years. Her visit, in which she praised Taiwan’s democracy and pledged solidarity, angered China and touched off what state TV said would be China’s largest military drills in the Taiwan Strait, including live firing in the waters and on the airspace around the island. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Five missiles landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prompting Tokyo to issue strong diplomatic protests. read more One of Washington’s closest allies, Tokyo is increasingly concerned about China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific and the possibility of Beijing taking military action against Taiwan. Pelosi met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at his official residence, where Kishida said the two allies would work together to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a key shipping route. Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese bullying of Taiwan is an escalating national security threat. read more “I have informed Speaker Pelosi that China’s ballistic missiles landing near Japanese waters, including the EEZ, threaten our national security and that Japan had strongly condemned such actions,” Kishida said. “We also affirmed continued close cooperation to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” Tensions between Japan and China rose another notch on Thursday when China announced that a meeting between the two nations’ foreign ministers, scheduled to take place on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Cambodia, was canceled due to its displeasure over a G7. statement calling on Beijing to resolve the tension in Taiwan peacefully. read more Pelosi arrived in Japan after visiting South Korea on Thursday, where she pledged support for North Korea’s denuclearization. She will meet her Japanese counterpart Hiroyuki Hosoda, speaker of the lower house of parliament, later on Friday. read more During his visit to Japan in May, US President Joe Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan – a comment that appeared to stretch the limits of US policy of “strategic ambiguity” towards the island. read more Kishida then told Biden that Japan would significantly increase its defense spending. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has pledged to double military spending to 2% of GDP. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Elaine Lies, Mariko Katsumura and Kentaro Sugiyama. Editing by David Dolan and Stephen Coates Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
