BBC News:
China has branded a landmark visit to Taiwan by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “extremely dangerous”.
It accused Ms Pelosi, the most senior US politician in 25 years to visit the island China claims as its own, of “playing with fire”.
“Those who play with fire will perish by it,” Beijing warned in a statement.
US national security spokesperson John Kirby said there was “no reason for this visit to become a spurring event for a crisis or conflict”.
Speaking after Ms Pelosi’s arrival, he reiterated to reporters that the trip was consistent with the US’s long-standing policy towards China and did not violate the country’s sovereignty.
Early on Wednesday, Ms Pelosi made her way to parliament, where she spoke to Taiwan’s deputy speaker and then addressed the media.
She said she came “in peace to the region” and that she wanted to increase parliamentary exchanges between Washington and Taipei, and commended Taiwan for being “one of the freest societies in the world”. She then headed in to a closed-door session.
She also said that a US bill on computer chips would be a good opportunity to increase cooperation given that Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC produces more than half of the world’s semiconductors.
Ms Pelosi is expected to meet Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen later on Wednesday, as well as a group of human rights activists.
