As Nancy Pelosi approaches the contentious island, Taiwan’s tallest building flashed an LED message thanking her for her visit, risking Beijing’s wrath.
After landing in Singapore to begin her tour of Asia, Pelosi is anticipated to arrive in Taipei on Tuesday evening.
She will meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during this visit.
Despite the alleged aggression from China, dozens of supporters held welcome banners outside the hotel where the US House Speaker is supposed to be staying in Taipei.
In anticipation of Pelosi’s anticipated visit, the Taipei 101 skyscraper was also lit up with the slogans “Taiwan loves the US” and “Welcome to Taiwan, Speaker Pelosi.”
At 10:11 a.m. Eastern Time, the Flighttradar24 tracking service verified that Pelosi’s aircraft had flown inside Taiwan airspace.
This comes after the servers of the flight-tracking website Flighttradar24 were crippled by 300,000 viewers watching Nancy Pelosi’s plane approach Taiwan.
Though hundreds of thousands of people sought to trace her flight before the alleged landing, Chinese threats to shoot her jet down have raised concerns.
This morning, dedicated flight watchers were unable to use the website because they received the message “something went wrong on our end, please try again.”
‘We’re going to make sure she has a safe and secure visit, because that’s our obligation,’ White House spokesman John Kirby said yesterday.
And we urge China to recognise this – if she goes – for exactly what it is: nothing new, no change to our policy, and most definitely not an unprecedented visit by the Speaker of the House.
This morning, Flightradar24 posted on Twitter that its servers were experiencing an unusually high demand due to the extraordinary prolonged tracking interest in SPAR19.
“Some users may temporarily have difficulties using the site. Our staff are trying to restore full functionality to all users as quickly as possible,” the statement reads.
Prior to Pelosi’s anticipated travel, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army issued a number of alerts, the most recent of which was sent on Monday and includes a video depicting a missile strike, approaching aircraft carriers, and formations of fighter jets.
State media also issued a harsh warning.
After hearing that the Speaker will fly into Taipei on Tuesday night despite Beijing’s threat to shoot her plane down and conduct a military reaction, the video was shared on WeChat on Monday morning.
Hu Xijin, a prominent figure in Chinese official media, sent a dire message to the top House Democrat, saying, “Let her go to Taiwan.”
However, before leaving, pray for a safe voyage and ask that she not be remembered in history as the sinner who started the process of escalation that led to military frictions escalating to a protracted war in the Taiwan Strait.
Pelosi has the right to visit Taiwan, according to the White House, which also reaffirmed its one-China stance.
Kirby further emphasised to Beijing that the speaker chooses her own destinations and that her visit is not unusual.
We have made it quite clear from the outset that she will be in charge of her own judgments and that Congress is a separate part of government.
Given our long history of diplomatic contacts with the PRC, they are aware that our constitution has a separation of powers.
The Speaker of the House has the right to travel to Taiwan, and she has done so before without problem, as have many other members of Congress, including this year. Kirby made a statement in the introduction.
The last speaker to go to Taiwan since 1997 would be Pelosi. The most recent visitor was Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has urged Pelosi to go.
Chinese officials are worried that the concept of the separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches is not completely understood in their country.
There are worries that the Chinese would see Pelosi’s travel as an administration action given that she would be going when the Democrats are in control of the House, Senate, and White House.
Chinese official media reported last Friday that if Pelosi’s plane entered their airspace while being escorted by a fighter jet, the government would be ready to shoot it down.
The most recent warning was made by Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, who stated that Pelosi’s journey to Taiwan, which China claims as its own, would have “egregious political impact” given her position as the “No. 3 official of the US government”
‘A severe meddling in China’s domestic affairs,’ Lijian continued, ‘would result in very significant events and consequences.
Zhao stated during a routine daily briefing, “We would want to remind the United States that China is watching, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will never stand idly by, and China will take bold replies and powerful countermeasures to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Zhao responded when asked what actions the PLA would take: “If she dares to depart, then let us wait and see.”