US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Taiwan, defying warnings from China and concerns from the White House. But she has a long history of criticising the Chinese government.
Most famously in 1991, two years after large-scale protests in Beijing were crushed by the Chinese government, she visited Tiananmen Square and displayed a banner honouring the deceased demonstrators.
For its part, the Chinese government has made no secret of its disdain for Ms Pelosi, once labelling her “full of lies and disinformation”.
China sees self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province, and has not ruled out using force to unify it. It deploys significant pressure to dissuade other countries from recognising Taiwan’s independence.
Before her visit, China warned of serious consequences if Ms Pelosi went to Taiwan.
Two years after protestors were crushed by Communist Party forces in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, the then-California representative visited the capital city.
Slipping away from her official escorts along with two other members of Congress, she went to the city square without the permission of her Chinese hosts.
There, they unfurled a small, hand-painted banner which read: “To those who died for democracy in China.”
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