- Pelosi will tour Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan
- No mention of Taiwan on their agenda
- The Chinese Air Force reiterates its will to defend the territory
- Chinese military exercises in the South China Sea
BEIJING, July 31 (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi begins a tour of four Asian countries on Sunday, her office said, without mentioning Taiwan amid intense speculation that she might visit the self-governing 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 press release.
The statement said the visit would include those countries, but did not specify whether Pelosi, who is No. 3 in the presidential line of succession, might make other stops.
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“The trip will focus on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance in the Indo-Pacific region,” he 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 is required by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
A visit by Pelosi would be a dramatic, though not unprecedented, display of US support for Taiwan. Republican Newt Gingrich was the last House Speaker to visit Taiwan in 1997.
President Xi Jinping warned his US counterpart Joe Biden on Thursday that Washington should respect the one-China principle and “those who play with fire will die for it.”
Biden told Xi that US policy on Taiwan had not changed and that Washington strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Read more
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Friday after the call between Xi and Biden that Taiwan would continue to deepen its close security partnership with the United States.
Chinese air force spokesman Shen Jinke was quoted by state media as saying on Sunday that Beijing would “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Shen said at a military air show that the air force has many types of fighter jets capable of circling “the beautiful island of our motherland,” referring to Taiwan.
He said China’s air force “has the firm will, full confidence and sufficient ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
A comment by a People’s Liberation Army unit on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social network, on Friday: “Prepare for war!” – received 1.87 million congratulations.
SOUTH CHINA SEA
As a US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group returned to the South China Sea on Thursday, the Chinese military stepped up exercises in the vicinity.
On Saturday, the Chinese military conducted live-fire drills in waters off Fujian province, more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) away from Taiwan, according to local authorities.
The Chinese coast guard will conduct an exercise in the South China Sea off Guangzhou province on Monday, according to another notice from the Maritime Safety Administration.
Prominent Chinese commentator Hu Xijin said on Saturday he had deleted a tweet warning of military retaliation if US fighter jets accompany Pelosi on a visit to Taiwan, after Twitter blocked his account. Read more
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the United States has seen no evidence of imminent Chinese military activity against Taiwan. Read more
On Wednesday, Biden told reporters he thought the U.S. military believed a visit by Pelosi to Taiwan “wasn’t a good idea right now.”
Pelosi’s Asia tour comes at a politically sensitive time for Chinese and American leaders.
Xi is expected to seek a record-breaking third term in Congress later this year, while in the US, Biden’s Democratic Party faces a tough fight to retain control of the US House of Representatives in the mid-term elections in November.
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Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; Editing by William Mallard and Himani Sarkar
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.