{"id":17071,"date":"2022-08-02T10:27:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T06:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/?p=17071"},"modified":"2022-08-11T14:02:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T10:02:28","slug":"us-says-beijing-has-no-reason-to-turn-pelosis-expected-taiwan-visit-into-a-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/us-says-beijing-has-no-reason-to-turn-pelosis-expected-taiwan-visit-into-a-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"US says Beijing has no reason to turn Pelosi\u2019s expected Taiwan visit into a \u2018crisis\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

National security council says speaker has \u2018right to visit\u2019 after China warns its military would \u2018not sit idly by\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US national security council (NSC) has insisted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi \u201chas the right to visit Taiwan\u201d, amid reports that she will be landing on the island on Tuesday \u2013 a move that China has vowed to respond to forcefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at a press conference in Washington on Monday, NSC spokesman John Kirby said Pelosi has visited Taiwan before \u201cwithout any incident\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with longstanding US policies into some sort of crisis,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the same time, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, also told reporters that the speaker \u201cwill make her own decisions about whether or not to visit Taiwan,\u201d stressing that Congress is independent from the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongress is an independent, co-equal branch of government, the decision is entirely the speaker\u2019s. This is very much precedent in the sense that [a] previous speaker has visited Taiwan. Many members of Congress go to Taiwan, including this year,\u201d Blinken said, alluding to Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich\u2019s visit in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blinken added, of Beijing: \u201cWe are looking for them, in the event she decides to visit, to act responsibly and not to engage in any escalation going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Kirby and Blinken suggested that Washington will not \u201ctake the bait or engage in sabre rattling\u201d if China tried to coax an escalation of tensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in the week, US General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said if Pelosi or anyone else is going to travel and they ask for military support \u201cwe will do what is necessary to ensure safe conduct of their visit\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China has been furious about Pelosi\u2019s potential visit to Taiwan. On Monday, China\u2019s spokesperson warned its military would \u201cnot sit idly by\u201d if the visit happened. A few hours later, China\u2019s Maritime Safety Administration announced yet another series of military exercises in the South China Sea from 2 August to 6 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan\u2019s government has not publicly commented on the reports. But Taiwanese media reported that Pelosi\u2019s plane will land in Taipei Tuesday night local time. She will then visit the island\u2019s legislative council on Wednesday and is expected to meet Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should Pelosi go ahead with the Taiwan visit, it would be the first visit of a US House speaker in a quarter of a century. Beijing, which claims the self-governing island as its own province, has made clear it would see such a move as an unacceptable provocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beijing protested Gingrich\u2019s trip but eventually swallowed its irritation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, a US official told CNN that in the face of China\u2019s admonition the Pentagon was \u201cworking around the clock\u201d to monitor any Chinese movements in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelosi\u2019s possible visit at a time of heightened tension with China is a fraught matter for both the US and Chinese. As House speaker, she is third in line for the presidency after Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Chinese perspective, a visit from a lawmaker so closely linked in constitutional terms to the presidency increases the offense. China\u2019s spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said that because of Pelosi\u2019s status as the \u201cNo 3 official of the US government\u201d, a visit to Taiwan would \u201clead to egregious political impact\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA), the world\u2019s largest military, on Monday celebrated the 95th anniversary of its founding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officially, Pelosi will only visit Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. But Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican on the House foreign affairs committee, and Democrat Anna Eshoo told US media last week that Pelosi had invited them to Taiwan. Both declined, citing scheduling conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelosi\u2019s trip comes at a time of extreme geopolitical uncertainty in the region. On Monday, she and a six-member congressional delegation held talks with Singapore\u2019s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. He \u201chighlighted the importance of stable US-China relations for regional peace and security\u201d, according to a statement from Lee\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the run-up to Monday\u2019s PLA founding anniversary, the Chinese military conducted \u201clive-fire exercises\u201d near the Pingtan islands off Fujian province, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The Maritime Safety Administration warned ships to avoid the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since reports of Pelosi\u2019s potential Taiwan trip emerged a fortnight ago, Beijing\u2019s state media outlets have intensified their criticism of US policy on Taiwan. Chinese diplomats have also repeated China\u2019s \u201cone China principle\u201d stance on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Yin, a distinguished fellow at the Center for China Studies at National Taiwan University in Taipei, said the US faced a strategic dilemma when it came to stabilising the Taiwan strait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the one hand, the US needs to signal its support for Taiwan, particularly since China often portrays the US as a paper tiger who does not have the resolve to come to Taiwan\u2019s aid,\u201d Yin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the other hand, the US needs to reassure China that it still abides by the one China principle. Pelosi\u2019s expected visit illustrates how difficult it is to strike a good strategic balance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 we have a small favour to ask. Millions are turning to the Guardian for open, independent, quality news every day, and readers in 180 countries around the world now support us financially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National security council says speaker has \u2018right to visit\u2019 after China warns its military would \u2018not sit idly by\u2019 The US national security council (NSC) has insisted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi \u201chas the right to visit Taiwan\u201d, amid reports that she will be landing on the island on Tuesday \u2013 a move that China […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17073,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17071\/revisions\/17073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}