Pelosi Slams China in Op-Ed Published Minutes After She Lands in Taiwan: ‘We Cannot Stand By’

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) offered sharp criticisms of China’s communist government in an op-ed published only minutes after she landed in Taiwan on Tuesday.

Pelosi’s trip was condemned by numerous Chinese officials after it was first reported, though the White House said the visit does not change U.S. policy on Taiwan independence, which National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. does not support.

Pelosi echoed Kirby’s words that her trip does not change any policy on Taiwan, but she also called out increased tensions and aggression from China against Taiwan and other regions and pushed for the U.S. to do more in defense of its allies in her Washington Post op-ed.

“We cannot stand by as the CCP proceeds to threaten Taiwan — and democracy itself,” Pelosi wrote.

The House Speaker also highlighted a conclusion from the Department of Defense last year that China could likely be preparing to “unify” Taiwan with the People’s Republic of China by force.

“In recent years, Beijing has dramatically intensified tensions with Taiwan,” she wrote. “The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has ramped up patrols of bombers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft near and even over Taiwan’s air defense zone, leading the U.S. Defense Department to conclude that China’s army is “likely preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force.”

Pelosi called on the U.S. to live up to its vow in the Taiwan Relations Act to defend a democratic Taiwan, though she reiterated that the U.S. opposes any “unilateral efforts to change the status quo.”

“And it made a solemn vow by the United States to support the defense of Taiwan: “to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means … a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States,” she wrote.