The US has maintained a navy presence in the region, including the usually Japan-based aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan which sailed through the South China Sea last week.Moments after landing in Taipei in defiance of Chinese threats, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted her support for Taiwan's democracy as well as a "free and open Indo-Pacific region". Last week, both Taiwan and China held live-fire drills. Pelosi's potential visit has been preceded by a flurry of military activity across the region that highlights how combustible the issue of Taiwan is. The council said China cited regulatory breaches. Taipei's Council of Agriculture said on Tuesday that China had suspended the import of some Taiwanese goods, including some fishery products, tea and honey. "Likely it will seek to punish Taiwan in myriad ways."
(China) will take a series of military, economic, and diplomatic actions to show strength & resolve is not insignificant," she added. "The probability of war or a serious incident is low," tweeted Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia programme at the US-based German Marshall Fund think tank. The island's military on Tuesday said it was "determined" to defend it against increased threats by China over the potential Pelosi visit. The island nation's 23 million people have long lived with the possibility of an invasion, but that threat has intensified under Xi, China's most assertive leader in a generation. It was not clear why, but the office said it would up its monitoring in the face of "hybrid information warfare by external forces".
On Tuesday evening, Taiwan's presidential office said its website was briefly offline for 20 minutes because of a DDoS attack that was halted. Multiple Taiwanese media outlets carried comments from deputy parliament speaker Tsai Chi-chang saying Pelosi was "very likely" to visit in the coming days.Īnd Taiwan's Liberty Times newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying she would land Tuesday night, then meet President Tsai Ing-wen the next day before departing in the afternoon. Taipei has kept silent on whether they expect to roll out the red carpet. The remainder of her itinerary includes stops in South Korea and Japan - but the prospect of a Taiwan trip has dominated attention. Press access around Pelosi has been tightly restricted and limited to a handful of short statements confirming meetings with Malaysian and Singaporean officials. Pelosi arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday where she met Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. Meanwhile, Moscow said it was "absolutely in solidarity with China", calling the prospect of a Pelosi visit "pure provocation".Ĭhina has refused to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for the Kremlin by blasting Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv. This means support for its self-ruling government, while diplomatically recognising Beijing over Taipei and opposing a formal independence declaration by Taiwan or a forceful takeover by China. Kirby reiterated, however, that US policy was unchanged toward Taiwan. He said Pelosi was travelling on a military aircraft and that while Washington did not fear a direct attack, it "raises the stakes of a miscalculation". Kirby cited intelligence that China was preparing possible military provocations. The last House Speaker to visit Taiwan was Newt Gingrich in 1997.
"There is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with longstanding US policies into some sort of crisis," he told reporters. While the Biden administration is understood to be opposed to a Taiwan stop, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Pelosi was entitled to go where she pleased.
In a call with US President Joe Biden last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the United States against "playing with fire" on Taiwan. It tries to keep Taiwan isolated on the world stage and opposes countries having official exchanges with it. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said "the US breach of faith on the Taiwan issue is despicable" in comments published on his ministry's website Tuesday that did not specifically mention Pelosi.īeijing considers self-ruled, democratic Taiwan its territory and has vowed to one day seize the island, by force if necessary.