There is no reason for China and the United States to “fight” if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan in the coming days during a trip to Asia, the White House said on Friday, underlining Washington’s tensions with Beijing. about the trip.
According to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, Pelosi offered a justification for her Asian tour by saying that a stop in Taipei was not yet confirmed.
In relation to a possible military response by China, if the visit takes place, Kirby said that no war plans have been detected.
“There is no reason for it to come to that, to the hands, to greater physical tension,” Kirby said at the White House. “[Tampoco] there is a reason for that because there has been no change in US policy towards ‘one China’”.
Pelosi and her aides did not confirm their travel plans, nor did they name the countries they might visit, citing security concerns.
China regards Taiwan as its own territory and has said it could take the island back by force.
For more than four decades, Washington has pursued a “one China” policy, recognizing Beijing as the government of China but maintaining informal relations and defense ties with Taiwan.
China has strongly opposed any visit by Pelosi to Taiwan warning of “firm measures” if she does.
Earlier this month Biden said the Pentagon believes a trip by Pelosi to Taiwan is “not a good idea right now.” Senior defense officials who briefed reporters on Friday declined to discuss possible travel arrangements.
The US president has designed his foreign policy, in part, to counter China’s growing economic and military might.
Pelosi’s schedule has also become a domestic political issue. Some Republicans are urging her to visit Taiwan as a show of confrontation with Beijing.
But Kirby said Friday that Pelosi “needs no approval or disapproval” to travel. And that the leader of the House of Representatives “has the right to travel aboard a military plane.”
The military routinely provides aircraft for lawmakers’ trips, which presidents rarely have the authority to deny.
In a highly unusual move, then-President Donald Trump blocked Pelosi and other lawmakers from using a military plane to visit Afghanistan during a 2019 battle over the government shutdown after she asked him to delay her State of the Union address.
