The United States “will not allow” China to isolate Taiwan, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday during a news conference in Tokyo after a visit to Taiwan that angered China, AFP reported, citing AFP. Agerpres.

“They will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us from going there. We had high-level visits by senators in the spring in a bipartisan way (…) and we will not allow them to isolate Taiwan,” she said.

Nancy Pelosi, 82, who is in Japan for the last leg of her Asia tour for the first time since 2015, angered China by visiting Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Beijing seeing the autonomous territory of 23 million people as an integral part your country territory

The regional tour “was not intended to change the status quo here in Asia or to change the status quo in Taiwan,” Nancy Pelosi said.

Since 1979, Washington has recognized only one Chinese government, that of Beijing, while continuing to support Taiwan’s rule, notably through arms sales.

The visit, she said, “referred to the Taiwan Relations Act,” a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1979 that defines the relationship between the United States and Taiwan, as well as “U.S.-China policies, all laws and agreements that determined our relations”.

“This is about bringing peace to the Taiwan Strait and maintaining the status quo,” added Nancy Pelosi, praising Taiwan’s “great democracy” with its “thriving economy” and “respect for all its people.”