Colbert on Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit: ‘The Defense Department Has Upgraded Its Readiness to DEF CON Mee-Maw’ (Video)

Stephen Colbert managed to poke fun at China’s reaction to the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, visiting Taiwan, during his “Late Show” monologue on Tuesday night.

“See, tensions have been rising between the United States and China ever since the Chinese learned that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was planning a trip to Taiwan, which called into question America’s One China policy that acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China — but not really,” Colbert began, prompting chuckles from his studio audience.

“The threats from the Chinese government have not been subtle,” he continued of China’s response to her visit. “Last week, the Chinese warned that ‘those who play with fire will perish by it.’ Have you seen California? That’s not the threat it once was, China.”

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The “Late Show” host continued to mock what he saw as “ominous” and also, “very vague” threats from China over Pelosi’s visit. He also managed to find humor after China launched fighter jets as the octogenarian flew into Taiwan.

“The Chinese have also conducted live fire drills in the South China Sea and scrambled jets as her plane landed in Taiwan. All of this for an 82-year-old woman with bones made of peanut brittle,” he said, before adding, “Tensions are so bad the Defense Department has upgraded its readiness to DEF CON Mee-Maw.”

You can watch Colbert’s full monologue, which also sees him mocking journalists across all of the cable news networks for being unable to pronounce the name of the Al-Qaeda leader killed in a U.S. strike on Sunday following a two-decade long manhunt – Ayman al-Zawahiri around the 3:40 mark.