She put forward this claim during an Aug. 9 interview on the NBC News program "Today," in response to program host Savannah Guthrie's question regarding the speaker's visit to Taiwan a week earlier on Aug. 2. Pelosi also shared her thoughts on Beijing's escalating military action toward Taipei.
"We didn't go [to Taiwan] to change our policy; we still support the One China Policy. We go there to acknowledge [that] the status quo is what our policy is. There is nothing disruptive about that," the top lawmaker told Guthrie.
"It was only about saying China is one of the freest societies in the world. Don't take it from me, that's from Freedom House. It's a strong democracy [with] courageous people, and it's just – I don't know why it is – except there's some commercial interests who would like to diminish the relationship."
However, the Washington, D.C.-based democracy think tank begs to differ.
According to its Freedom in the World index that observes 210 countries, Taiwan is ranked with a high 94 percent "free" rating. Meanwhile, mainland China only has a measly nine percent rating – putting it among more than 60 countries classified as "not free."
Interestingly, Pelosi's claim during the Aug. 9 interview may have been a gaffe as she rightfully dubbed Taiwan as belonging to the "freest societies in the world" a week earlier.
The gaffe came amid the House speaker's ill-advised trip to the island nation. President Joe Biden echoed the sentiments of military officials, who said the visit to Taipei was "not a good idea."
The White House later reversed course, saying that the chief executive "respects" Pelosi's visit. It added that the visit aligns with American foreign policy going back decades.
Dems flip-flopping on their stance toward China
Beijing pushed forward with its threats of military action during and after Pelosi's two-day visit to Taipei. Despite the U.S. insisting on the One China Policy, which considers Taiwan as a province of the mainland, this failed to mollify Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping. (Related: China suspends dialogue with US following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit.)
However, Washington has been inconsistent with its stance toward Taiwan. Many U.S. officials, including Biden himself, have said it may be necessary to deploy military assets in defense of Taiwan if China attempts to take the island by force.
In usual fashion, a White House spokesperson came to the president's defense.
"He reiterated our One China Policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the spokesperson said. "He also reiterated our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself."
Meanwhile, Chinese tabloid Global Times responded to Pelosi's visit by saying that U.S. politicians only cause "chaos and disaster" to every nation they stand with. The tabloid is well known as a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party.
"History repeatedly proves that US politicians will only bring about chaos and disaster to the people they said they stand with," said the tabloid, quoting Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying.
The spokeswoman said during an Aug. 4 press conference: "Look at Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan – the 'beautiful sight to behold' that Pelosi once said she would stand with – and the secessionists in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. What happened to them now?"
According to Hua, Beijing's military exercises launched near Taiwan serve as a "warning" to "provocateurs" and "'Taiwan independence' secessionists." She added that the exercises have nothing to do with regular people and will not cause any harm – as long as they do not support Taiwanese independence.
Watch Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) insist that Pelosi's visit triggered Beijing to launch military exercises.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
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China flies fighter jets into Taiwanese airspace, escalating tension following Pelosi visit.
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