Nancy Pelosi Begins Asia Tour, Doesn’t Mention Taiwan

 

The house speaker is leading a congressional delegation to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan

by Dave DeCamp 

Posted onJuly 31, 2022CategoriesNewsTagsChina, Taiwan

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has left for Asia and announced Sunday that she will be leading a congressional delegation to the region without mentioning whether or not they will stop in Taiwan.

In a press release, Pelosi’s office said the delegation would stop in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. The delegation includes Pelosi and Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Mark Takano (D-CA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Andy Kim (D-NJ).

Pelosi declined to comment on a possible trip to Taiwan after The Financial Times reported that she would be visiting the island in August. Other members of Congress have said Pelosi invited them to join her in Taiwan, but it’s still not clear if the delegation will make the stop.

If the delegation does stop in Taiwan, it will be the first time in 25 years that a US house speaker visits Taiwan. China has strongly warned against the move, which would signal to Beijing that Washington is moving away from the one-China policy.

Chinese officials have said that if Pelosi visits Taiwan, the US would be challenging China’s “red line” and that there would be strong countermeasures, which would likely include military activity near Taiwan. Biden administration officials believe a visit by Pelosi could spark a major crisis across the Taiwan Strait but insist they can’t do anything to stop her.

Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of China’s Global Times, said on Twitter that if US fighter jets escorted Pelosi’s plane to Taiwan, China would view it as an “invasion” and would have the right to “forcibly dispel Pelosi’s plane and the US fighter jets, including firing warning shots and making tactical movement of obstruction.” If that didn’t work, Hu said, “Shoot them down.”

Many Western media outlets took Hu’s comments as Beijing threatening to shoot down Pelosi’s plane, but no officials in the Chinese government have made such a threat. Hu later deleted the tweet after his account was blocked by Twitter.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/07/31/nancy-pelosi-begins-asia-tour-doesnt-mention-taiwan/