Taiwan's tallest building, the Taipei 101 Tower, lit up with a welcome for the United States congressional delegation visit Tuesday night as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other members landed in the downtown area of Taiwan's capital city Taipei on Tuesday.
A Twitter post showed the 1,667-foot structure lit up with the message that included a heart emoji: "TW [heart] US" on upper floors of the building as military aircraft brought the delegation safely in to land at Songshan Airport on the China-claimed island.
"Our congressional delegation's visit to Taiwan honors America's unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan's vibrant democracy," Pelosi said in a statement shortly after landing. "America's solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy."
Despite dire warnings and threats from mainland China, who sees the visit as an "invasion" of its sovereignty, including the buzzing of Chinese warplanes along the Taiwan Straight dividing line, Pelosi becomes the first speaker of the House to visit the controversial territory since Republican Newt Gingrich made the trip in 1997.
The former speaker said in a televised interview Monday night that once announced, Pelosi had to make the trip, no matter what threats the Chinese government made.
"She has to go to Taiwan," Gingrich told Sean Hannity. "To back down now would encourage every aggressive, bullying attitude" from officials in Beijing, he added, and could convince them they could get away with "trying to occupy Taiwan."
President Joe Biden's administration initially advised Pelosi against making the stop during her week-long swing through Asia, only to eventually say they supported her decision, and made sure Chinese officials knew "that Congress is an independent branch of government and Speaker Pelosi makes her own decisions," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the Post.
China's official response to Pelosi being on the ground in Taiwan was another threat that the United States was "playing with fire" and that events will "come to no good end," Reuters reported.
"It gravely undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces for 'Taiwan independence,'" CNN reported the foreign ministry saying. "China firmly opposes and sternly condemns this and has made serious démarche and strong protest to the United States."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.