Next stop: Pelosi (left) and Kim (centre) arriving at the National Assembly in Seoul. — Bloomberg
SEOUL: After infuriating China over her trip to Taiwan, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met South Korean political leaders in Seoul but avoided making direct public comments on relations with Beijing and Taipei that could further increase regional tensions.
Pelosi, the first House speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years, said on Wednesday in Taipei that the American commitment to democracy in the self-governing island and elsewhere “remains ironclad”.
In response, China yesterday began military exercises, including missile strike training, in six zones surrounding Taiwan, in what could be the biggest of their kind since the mid-1990s.
After visiting Taiwan, Pelosi and other members of her congressional delegation flew to South Korea – a key US ally where about 28,500 American troops are deployed – on Wednesday evening, as part of an Asian tour that included earlier stops in Singapore and Malaysia.
She met South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and other senior members of Parliament yesterday.
After that hour-long meeting, Pelosi spoke about the bilateral alliance, forged in blood during the 1950-53 Korean War, and legislative efforts to boost ties, but didn’t directly mention her Taiwan visit or the Chinese protests.
“We also come to say to you that a friendship, a relationship that began from urgency and security, many years ago, has become the warmest of friendships,” she said.
“We want to advance security, economy and governance in the inter-parliamentary way.”
Kim said he and Pelosi agreed to support their governments’ push for denuclearisation and peace on the Korean Peninsula based on both strong deterrence against North Korea and diplomacy.
Pelosi later spoke by phone with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on the alliance, foreign policy and other issues.
Yoon is on vacation this week, but critics accuse him of intentionally shunning a face-to-face meeting with Pelosi due to ties with China, South Korea’s biggest trading partner.
Pelosi and other members of her congressional delegation didn’t bring up the Taiwan issue and neither did Yoon, said Yoon’s office.
In recent years, South Korea has struggled to strike a balance between the United States and China as their rivalry has deepened. — AP
