U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has left Malaysia and is expected to visit Taiwan, escalating tensions with Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as its own territory
This handout photo taken and released by Malaysia’s Department of Information, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, center, waves to media as she tours the parliament house in Kuala Lumpur, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Pelosi arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday for the second leg of an Asian tour that has been clouded by an expected stop in Taiwan, which would escalate tensions with Beijing. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — — U.S.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment. Premier Su Tseng-chang didn’t explicitly confirm Pelosi’s visit, but said Tuesday that “any foreign guests and friendly lawmakers” are “very much welcome.” Hua said China has been in constant communication with the U.S. and made clear “how dangerous it would be if the visit actually happens.” Any countermeasures China take will be “justified and necessary" in the face of Washington's “unscrupulous behavior," she said.
Kirby said administration officials are concerned that Beijing could use the visit as an excuse to take provocative retaliatory steps, including military action such as firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan, or flying sorties into the island’s airspace and carrying out large-scale naval exercises in the strait.
“If the speaker does decide to visit, and China tries to create some kind of a crisis or otherwise escalate tensions, that would be entirely on Beijing,” he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. “We are looking for them, in the event she decides to visit, to act responsibly and not to engage in any escalation going forward.”
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