Pelosi says China trying to isolate Taiwan

Pelosi said at a news conference in Tokyo during her last stop on her Asia tour that China had tried to isolate Taiwan from the international community but wouldn't prevent US officials from traveling there.

She said that we will not allow China to isolate Taiwan. They are not doing our travel schedule. On her departure, Beijing had warned it would take forceful measures if Pelosi went ahead, and on her departure it launched live-fire military exercises and sent missiles over Taiwan for the first time.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said on Friday that several Chinese military jets and warships had conducted exercises around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the median line, the halfway point between the island and mainland China. Taiwan's military responded with radio warnings, air patrol forces, naval ships and shore-based missile systems, the ministry said. On Thursday, China sent 22 warplanes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone ADIZ, all of them crossing the median line. A number of countries, including from the G 7 grouping of some of the world's largest economies, have criticized China's drills, urging Beijing not to change the status quo in the region. Pelosi said on Friday that the visit to Taiwan had been about maintaining the status quo. She said that China fired missiles over Taiwan for the first time as Beijing retaliates against Pelosi. She said it was about the Taiwan Relations Act, the US-China policy, all of the pieces of legislation and agreements that have established what our relationship is - to have peace in the Taiwan Strait and to have the status quo prevail. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for an immediate halt to the drills, calling them a serious issue regarding the security of our country and its people. The Japanese government lodged a formal complaint after five Chinese missiles landed in its Exclusive Economic Zone. A planned meeting between the Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers was canceled due to worsening relations. On Thursday, China's Vice Foreign Minister Deng Li summoned envoys from European countries and the EU to China in protest of their statements regarding Taiwan. Deng, who accused the countries of interfering with China's internal affairs, said that the G 7 statement distorts the facts and is a blatant political provocation. Pelosi's visit to Taiwan was the first by a sitting House speaker in 25 years since former Speaker Newt Gingrich's visit in 1997. Her Asia tour included stops in Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia.