Many in Taiwan have shrugged off China's warnings about a possible trip to the democratic island by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying they were accustomed to Beijing's sabre-rattling and saw no cause for alarm.
Such a trip would be the first by a House speaker to the island since 1997, and China, which claims the island as its own, has said it is prepared to act in response, as tension rises between the two sides.
Visits by U.S. officials to Taiwan have become a frequent source of tension between Beijing and Washington, which does not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. "Of course it raises Taiwan's visibility and it shows the American commitment to Taiwan in a pretty formal way," he said, describing the impact such a visit would have.
During the last Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996, for example, the PLA fired missiles into the waters around Taiwan ahead of its first direct presidential vote.
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