China bullying spurs foreign 'interest' in visits to Taiwan

Washington: The aggressive military respone by China to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan has encouraged interest from other countries' parliaments in similar trips, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday.After Pelosi's visit earlier this month, which was followed this week by five additional US politicians, China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, conducted its largest-ever military drills around the self governed island, Reuters reported.The White House said China "overreacted" to Pelosi's visit by performing blockade drills all around the island and launching missiles over Taiwan in an effort to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. “What China is doing is they are generating greater interest than ever in visiting Taiwan,” Taiwan’s top representative in Washington Hsiao Bi-khim said.“We have seen since the visit parliaments from other countries also indicating an interest,” she said, naming Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan among countries that could possibly send delegations.Days following Pelosi's trip, Beijing placed penalties on a minister from Lithuania who had visited Taiwan. Asked if Taiwan would welcome a visit by a Republican speaker should the party take control of the House of Representatives after U.S. midterm elections, Hsiao said, “We have been open for decades to congressional delegations, and that applies to members of any party”.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.