House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill Friday, July 29, 2022, in Washington, DC.
Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will begin a tour of four Asian countries on Sunday, her office said, without mentioning Taiwan amid intense speculation that she may visit an independent island claimed by China.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading a congressional delegation to the Indo-Pacific region, including visits to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan,” her office said in a statement.
The announcement states that the visit will include those countries, but it is not specified whether Pelosi, who is number 3 in the line of presidential succession, could stop by.
“The trip will focus on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance in the Indo-Pacific region,” it said.
Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was among the delegation listed.
China sees US officials’ visits to Taiwan as sending an encouraging signal to the island’s pro-independence camp. Washington does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but it is obliged by law to provide the island with defense resources.
President Xi Jinping warned his American counterpart Joe Biden on Thursday that Washington should stick to the one-China principle and that “those who play with fire will die because of it.”
Biden told Xi that US policy toward Taiwan has not changed and that Washington strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
State media quoted Chinese military spokesman Shen Jinke as saying on Sunday that Beijing would “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” referring to Taiwan.
Shen said at the military air show that the air force has many types of fighter jets capable of circling “the precious island of our homeland”. He said China’s “air force has firm will, full confidence and sufficient ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
A unit of the People‘s Liberation Army said on the Twitter-like social network Weibo on Friday: “Prepare for war!”
Prominent Chinese commentator Hu Xijin said on Saturday he had deleted a tweet warning of military retaliation if US fighter jets escorted Pelosi on a visit to Taiwan, after Twitter blocked his account.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the United States has seen no evidence of impending Chinese military activity against Taiwan.
