<<Print>>

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday praised Taiwan, pledged U.S. solidarity and said her trip through Asia, which led to unprecedented military drills by an angry China, was never about changing the regional status quo.

Pelosi and a congressional delegation were in Japan on the last stage of an Asian trip that included a brief and unannounced stop in Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers its own - and prompted an infuriated Beijing to hold live-fire drills in waters around Taiwan, with five missiles landing in Japan's exclusive economic zone(EEZ).

Her stop in Taiwan, the highest-level visit by a U.S. official in 25 years, came as Tokyo, one of Washington's closest allies, has become increasingly alarmed about China's growing might in the Indo-Pacific and the possibility that Beijing could take military action against Taiwan.