Nancy Pelosi leaves Taiwan; China sees red: 10 points

The 82-year-old lawmaker waved to waiting dignitaries at Taipei's Songshan airport before boarding a US military aircraft that took off at 6 pm (3:30 pm IST).

Taipei (Taiwan): US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi departed Taiwan on Wednesday evening, ending a controversial landmark visit that Beijing responded to with threats and military drills. The 82-year-old lawmaker waved to waiting dignitaries at Taipei's Songshan airport before boarding a US military aircraft that took off at 6 pm (3:30 pm IST).

Here are the top 10 developments in the story:

1. Taiwan struck a defiant tone Wednesday as it hosted US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with a furious China gearing up for military exercises dangerously close to the island's shores in retaliation for the visit. Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Tuesday despite a series of increasingly stark threats from Beijing, which views the island as its territory and had said it would consider the visit a major provocation.
2. China responded swiftly, announcing what it said were "necessary and just" military drills in the seas just off Taiwan's coast -- some of the world's busiest waterways. "In the current struggle surrounding Pelosi's Taiwan visit, the United States are the provocateurs, China is the victim," Beijing's foreign ministry said.
3. But Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said that the island of 23 million would not be cowed. "Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down. We will... continue to hold the line of defence for democracy," Tsai said at an event with Pelosi in Taipei.
4. China tries to keep Taiwan isolated on the world stage and opposes countries having official exchanges with Taipei. Pelosi, second in line to the presidency, is the highest-profile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
5. "Today, our delegation... came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan," she said at the event with Tsai. She added her group had come "in friendship to Taiwan" and "in peace to the region". Pelosi's delegation left Taiwan on Wednesday evening headed to South Korea, her next stop in an Asia tour.
6. The administration of President Joe Biden said in the run-up to the visit that US policy towards Taiwan remained unchanged. This means support for its government while diplomatically recognising Beijing over Taipei, and opposing a formal independence declaration by Taiwan or a forceful takeover by China.
7. While the White House is understood to be opposed to Pelosi's Taiwan stop, its National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said she was entitled to go where she pleased. Beijing summoned US Ambassador Nicholas Burns over Pelosi's visit, while the Chinese military declared it was on "high alert" and would "launch a series of targeted military actions in response" to the visit.
8. The drills will include "long-range live ammunition shooting" in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from mainland China and straddles vital shipping lanes. The zone of Chinese exercises will be within 20 kilometres (12 miles) of Taiwan's shoreline at some points, according to coordinates released by the Chinese military.
9. Beijing has long used diplomatic, military and economic pressure on Taiwan. On Wednesday China announced curbs on the import of fruit and fish from Taiwan -- citing the detection of pesticide residue and the coronavirus. It also halted shipments of sand to the island. "Those who offend China will be punished," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters Thursday while on a trip to Cambodia.
10. China has vowed to annex self-ruled, democratic Taiwan one day, by force if necessary. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February heightened fears in Taiwan that China may similarly follow through on its threats to annex the island.