at the age of 93. taiwan has scrambled fighter planes after chinese military aircraft entered its air defence zone. beijing is protesting against the visit by the us house speaker nancy pelosi, who vowed her country would never abandon the island. china has also begun manoeuvres around taiwan that are affecting air and shipping links. taiwan is self governing and lies about 160 kilometres across the taiwan strait. it sees itself as independent, but china views it as its own. from taiwan, here s rupert wingfield hayes despite what china has been saying, today s meeting between nancy pelosi and taiwan president ing wen didn t
she said the controversial trip, was intended to show solidarity with the island and reflect the us commitment to democracy there. taiwan is self governing and lies about 100 miles across the taiwan straits. it also sees itself as independent, but beijing argues it s a renegade province and is warning of grave consequences following ms pelosi s visit. throughout the day, chinese fighter jets have repeatedly crossed into taiwnese airspace. our asia pacific correspondent, rupert wingfield hayes, has the very latest. despite what china has been saying, today s meeting between nancy pelosi and taiwan president ing wen didn t look terribly sinister. president tsai began by presenting ms pelosi with taiwan s highest civilian honour. she in turn praised taiwan s democracy and promised america would stand by the island. our solidarity with you is more important than ever, as you defend taiwan and your freedom.
was intended to make it clear that the us won t abandon the island. taiwan is self governing and lies about 160 kilometres across the taiwan strait. it sees itself as independent, but china views it as its own and has said it will carry out several days of live fire, military drills, in the sea and air around the island. g7 countries have responded, saying there s no justification for what it s calling china s aggressive drills. from taiwan, here s rupert wingfield hayes. despite what china has been saying, today s meeting between nancy pelosi and taiwan president ing wen didn t look terribly sinister. president tsai began by presenting ms pelosi with taiwan s highest civilian honour. she in turn praised taiwan s democracy and promised america would stand by the island. our solidarity with you is more important than ever, as you defend taiwan and your freedom.
and has said it will carry out several days of live fire, military drills, in the sea and air around the island. from taiwan, here s rupert wingfield hayes despite what china has been saying, today s meeting between nancy pelosi and taiwan president ing wen didn t look terribly sinister. president tsai began by presenting ms pelosi with taiwan s highest civilian honour. she in turn praised taiwan s democracy and promised america would stand by the island. our solidarity with you is more important than ever, as you defend taiwan and your freedom. we are supporters of the status quo, and we don t want anything to happen to taiwan by force. so strength, and one of the biggest sources of strength is democracy. most people here are unfazed by china s threats. if anything, they re excited that the world s attention is focused on taiwan, if only for 2h hours. i think everybody is very excited here and very