According to the Financial Times, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing a trip to the territory
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday (July 19, 2022) that a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan would seriously harm the country’s territorial integrity. According to the agency, if the trip takes place, the United States would bear “its consequences”.
The newspaper Financial Times reported that Pelosi plans to visit Taiwan in August to show support for Taipei. It would be the first trip by a Speaker of the US House of Representatives to the country in 25 years.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters that China will take action “strong” to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Pelosi had already planned to visit in April, but abandoned the plans when she was diagnosed with covid-19. At the time, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the trip would be a “malicious provocation” by the US.
The Taiwan issue is one of the most sensitive issues in the People’s Republic of China. Taiwan has been independently governed since the end of a civil war in 1949.
China, however, considers the island to be part of its territory, in the form of a splinter province. If Taiwan attempts independence, it must be forcibly prevented, in the Chinese interpretation.
US-China relations with Taiwan are at one of their worst moments. In May, US President Joe Biden said be willing to use force to defend Taiwanese territory in the event of an attack from China.
Biden declared that the country agreed “with the one-China policy”, but that the idea that Taiwan can be “just taken by force, it’s just not appropriate”. According to him, the forcible takeover of Taiwan “would be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine”.
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