Amid Threats, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Lands In Taiwan - 7 Lakh People Track Her Plane

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan's capital of Taipei on Tuesday as part of a visit that has prompted China to undertake military drills around the democratic island.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its territory and sees the visit by the highest-ranking US official in over 25 years as support for Taiwan's independence movement.

AFP

More than 7,00,000 people track Nancy Pelosi's plane to Taiwan

The visit, historic in many ways, has piqued the interest of people the world over. On Tuesday, the US Air Force¡¯s Boeing C-40C - SPAR19, which was carrying Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, was tracked by more than 7,00,000 people online.

Flightradar24, a popular flight-tracking site, said its server was under heavy load on Tuesday morning because so many people were tracking Pelosi's flight.

Because of unprecedented sustained tracking interest in SPAR19, Flightradar24 services are under extremely heavy load. Some users may currently experience issues accessing the site, our teams are working on restoring full functionality to all users as quickly as possible. pic.twitter.com/dsFrlQ67zr

¡ª Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 2, 2022

"Because of unprecedented sustained tracking interest in SPAR19, Flightradar24 services are under extremely heavy load. Some users may currently experience issues accessing the site, our teams are working on restoring full functionality to all users as quickly as possible," Flightradar24 said on Twitter

At the time of the tweet, 345,000 people were tracking the flight. Later, when the plane entered Taiwan's airspace, Flightradar24 said 632,000 people were watching. At the time of publication, it was unclear how many people were watching the plane as it made its final descent.

With 708,000 people tracking the aircraft upon landing in Taipei, SPAR19 is Flightradar24¡¯s most tracked live flight of all time. https://t.co/RifLnVzeMP pic.twitter.com/m2OBIV9RME

¡ª Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 2, 2022

Flightradar24 later said in a statement that SPAR19 was the "most tracked live flight" in the site's history by the time it landed, being watched by over 708,000 people.

With Pelosi's arrival, she became the highest-ranking US lawmaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years.

"Our delegation's visit to Taiwan honors America's unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan's vibrant Democracy. Our discussions with Taiwan leadership reaffirm our support for our partner & promote our shared interests, including advancing a free & open Indo-Pacific region," Pelosi tweeted after landing.

China responds angrily to Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit

Beijing has responded angrily to Pelosi's trip. The Chinese government announced on Wednesday morning it would ban imports of Taiwanese citrus fruit and two types of fish, and stop exporting natural sand to Taiwan, Nikkei Asia reported.

China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be annexed by force if necessary, has repeatedly warned of retaliation if Pelosi visits, saying its military will ¡°never sit idly by.¡±

Since last week, China's People's Liberation Army has conducted various exercises, including live fire drills, in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, in a show of Chinese military might.

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