The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, began her tour of Asia in Singapore, marked by the hypothesis of whether or not it will include a visit to Taiwan. China continues to multiply its threats to the US if Pelosi enters the island whose sovereignty is claimed by Beijing. The spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry avoided answering what the reprisals would be in the face of a possible visit: “Let’s wait and see”, while the Taiwanese media take the arrival of the Democratic leader for granted.
It is not yet officially known whether the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, will make a stopover in Taiwan. The hypothesis of her arrival is still open and with it also the warnings from China to the United States.
Local media in Taiwan report that Pelosi could arrive on Tuesday night. ‘The United Daily News’, ‘Liberty Times’ and ‘China Times’, the three largest national newspapers in Taiwan, quoted unidentified sources as saying that Pelosi would land in Taipei after visiting Malaysia, a version not confirmed by the United States. Joined.
Such a stop would provoke fury in Beijing, which regards Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly warned of “serious consequences” if the trip to Taipei goes through. For now, the Democrat has already been in Asia since Monday, August 1, accompanied by five congressmen, including the head of the Lower House Foreign Committee, Gregory Meeks.
His first stop, on a trip that includes visits to Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, is Singapore, where he discussed with the government of that country the issue of Taiwan, the self-governing island whose sovereignty the Asian giant claims.
China increases its warnings before the possible visit of Pelosi
The Asian giant claims sovereignty over Taiwan, considering it a rebellious province since the Kuomintang nationalists withdrew there in 1949, after losing the civil war against the communists.
Taiwan, with whom the US does not maintain official relations, is one of the main sources of conflict between China and the United States, due, above all, to the fact that the North American country is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and would be its greatest ally. military in case of war with China, but Washington has maintained an ambiguous position on the matter.
As he had already warned in recent speeches, the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, insisted that China will take “firm measures” to “defend its sovereignty and integrity” and that the US will have to “assume all consequences” arising from the possible visit of the Democrat.
According to a statement issued by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pelosi, who leads a delegation of US lawmakers, met on Monday with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, with whom she discussed various regional issues, including human rights, change climate, the pandemic, trade and security in the region.
And of course, but without giving details, of “relations across the (Formosa) Strait” between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, the democratic self-governing island that Beijing considers part of its territory and that it does not rule out invading.
The Prime Minister of Singapore, a country that plays equidistance between China and the United States, stressed the importance of “a stable relationship between China and the United States for regional peace and security.”
China sees as a provocation if Pelosi visits Taiwan
Spokesman Zhao Lijian avoided responding on Monday about what would be the retaliation that his country would take in case the speaker of the House visits Taiwan: “We will wait and see,” he said.
Zhao, quoted in local media, explained that Pelosi’s status as “the third highest-ranking person in the United States government (after Biden and Harris)” would make her trip to Taiwan “very delicate.”
If the trip takes place, no matter “how or when”, it would be “seriously violating the ‘one China principle,'” Zhao said, adding that the visit “would undermine relations between China and the United States” and have “a negative political impact.
Last week, the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defense, Tan Kefei, declared that the Chinese Army “will not sit idly by” if the visit takes place and asked that the North American country respect “its promise that it will not support independence of Taiwan”. Added, in addition, the telephone conversation they had last week, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who asked his American counterpart, Joe Biden, “not to play with fire.”
The White House has responded by criticizing China’s rhetoric, which it considers “unnecessary” and “of little use.” Biden reiterated to his counterpart Xi Jinping last week that Washington’s policy toward Taiwan has not changed.
Singapore welcomes the US’s expressed commitment to the region
In addition to Taiwan, two of the issues that cause the most friction between China and the United States are the war in Ukraine and climate change. Both issues were also discussed between Pelosi and Lee Hsien Loong.
In the statement from the Singaporean Foreign Ministry, both countries reaffirmed “the deep and multifaceted collaboration between Singapore and the United States, sustained by robust cooperation in the areas of defense, security and economy.”
Both sides discussed ways to deepen US economic influence through initiatives such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in the face of China’s growing influence in the area.
Launched two months ago, the IPEF is a new regional cooperation scheme aimed at promoting trade and investment between the US and a dozen countries in the area, bringing together countries that are members of the Quad group (USA, Japan , India and Australia) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
China has been steadily increasing diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan. Threats of retaliation for a visit by Pelosi have fueled concerns of a new crisis in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the two sides and could hit global markets and supply chains.
If Pelosi visits Taiwan, it would be the first by a US House Speaker since 1997, when Republican Newt Gingrich traveled to the island.
Beijing sees official US contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make the island’s de facto independence permanent, a move US leaders say they do not support.
With EFE and AP
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