185 | Who is Pelosi? Other than the most senior US officials who have visited Taiwan in recent years, you may not know her

 Text/Jian Hengyu (He joined the Storm Media in 2016. Since 2018, he has been deputy foreign editor and reporter covering foreign affairs and diplomacy.)
(Original post published on August 3, 2022)

This is the 1997 House Speaker, Republican Newt. After Newt Gingrich's visit to Taiwan, it was the first time in 25 years that such a high-ranking US official visited Taiwan. According to the succession order of US presidents , the Speaker of the House of Representatives is second only to the Vice President, and he is the highest in US politics. An important figure in "under two people, over ten thousand people".

Pelosi's visit to Taiwan has not onlyfilled the page with the threat of China's military unification of Taiwan , but also on Twitter that Pelosi's visit may set off a war in the Taiwan Strait; some people in Taiwan have criticized her visit only for the pursuit of personal history position. However, no matter how Pelosi's trip will fluctuate the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region or change her personal historical position, she is a politician with a distinct personality who has dominated American politics for decades.

Pelosi, who has set a number of "female first" records in American politics, met with Taiwan's first female president, Tsai Ing-wen, which is undoubtedly a historic moment.

From mother of five to first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

"This is a historic moment for Congress. This is a historic moment for women in America. We've waited more than 200 years for this moment... But women aren't just waiting, women are working. We work hard to deliver on America's promise that all men and women Complete equality."
──In 2007, Pelosi was first elected as the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Born in 1940, Pelosi, whose surname is D'Alesandro, was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland's largest city. She is the youngest of seven children and the only daughter in the family. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., was also a politician, elected from Maryland to the U.S. House of Representatives, to the mayor of Baltimore.

Pelosi, as a "second -generation politician", has been exposed to many political activities since she was a child , but she did not run for public office until she was 47 years old. Since 1969, she has been with her husband Paul. Paul Pelosi, who lives in his hometown of San Francisco, California, has five children—managing a busy five-child family that leaves her at best as a Democratic campaign volunteer or as an organizer. fundraiser.

In the 1980s, Pelosi's children grew up and left the nest, and her friend, the then 60-year-old Democrat from California Rep. Sarah. Sala Burton also developed cancer at this time. Before Burton died, he persuaded Pelosi, who had been a housewife for many years, to take her place in the House of Representatives.

In 1987, Pelosi was elected to the California House of Representatives, starting a 35-year career in the federal House of Representatives. After 20 years in politics, in January 2007, she was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives—the first time a woman has held the position in the 218-year history of the U.S. Congress.

Pelosi once described the 23 years she devoted to raising her children as her "best life and worst day." She is busy preparing dinner every day, picking up children and mediating disputes between siblings, and these experience of running a family have unexpectedly honed practical skills for entering the political arena: efficient time management ability, chairing as many as 435 seats. The organizational capacity of the House of Representatives and its ability to leverage leverage between different partisan forces.

Today, Pelosi is the grandmother of nine grandchildren. She emphasizes that she is such a leader thanks to this chapter of her life, and she hopes that society should begin to value the experience of "parenting" as a highlight of any professional resume.

"It's one of the hardest things," Pelosi said. "It makes going to work look easy, doesn't it?"

Pelosi published her first memoir, Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, a year after becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives. "Sometimes we need people who know ourselves well enough to inspire us to go down the path we never thought possible. . . . It would be a greater privilege than being Speaker of the House of Representatives if women could learn from me," she wrote in the book. "

liberal Catholics

Pelosi, who came from a Catholic family, went to Catholic schools all the way to college. However, her stance in support of LGBT+ human rights and abortion rights is as firm as iron, and it is not affected by the Catholic belief that "marriage is limited to one man and one woman" and "anti-abortion".

Back in March 2004, she was outspoken about her support for same-sex marriage in an interview with Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto. When she became Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007, she became the nation's highest-ranking serving official to publicly support same-sex marriage; this record was held until 2012, when then-President Barack Obama became the first to support same-sex marriage. The incumbent president of the United States who is gay is broken.

At that time, Pelosi was the leader of the Minority Party (Democratic Party) in the House of Representatives. While she praised Obama's remarks, she also mentioned her Catholic faith, which made her fight against any form of discrimination, and she loves and is willing to do it. point, so the prohibition of same-sex marriage is unacceptable discrimination for her.

So Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, may also echo her firm belief in LGBT+ human rights.

[This article is not over, see "Walk the World" for the full text: Who is Pelosi? You may not know her except for the highest-ranking US officials who have visited Taiwan in recent years ]

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185. Who is Pelosi? Other than the most senior US officials who have visited Taiwan in recent years, you may not know her

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