A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman on Monday declined to elaborate on the response that would be given if US Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, saying only that it would be harmful.
“Let’s wait and see,” said Zhao Lijian, quoted by local media.
The spokesperson explained that Pelosi’s status as “the third most important person in the US government” makes her potential trip to Taiwan a “very delicate” situation.
If the trip is confirmed, no matter “how or when,” it would “seriously violate the One China principle,” Zhao said, adding that the visit would have “negative political repercussions.”
As he warned in recent speeches, the spokesman insisted that China would take “strong measures” to “protect its sovereignty and integrity.”
As the US press reported on the possibility that Pelosi’s Asian trip would pass through Taiwan, Chinese military and civilian officials warned of the potential fallout from the US official’s visit.
Last week, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tang Kefei assured that the Chinese army “would not sit idly by” if the visit took place and urged the American country to honor “its pledge not to support Taiwan independence.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also stressed that the United States will have to “assume all the consequences that follow” from the trip.
During a telephone conversation last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged his US counterpart Joe Biden “not to play with fire.”
Nancy Pelosi is in Asia on an official visit and has so far announced that the visit will pass through countries such as Singapore, where she is already, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan, never mentioning Taiwan.
This isn’t the first time Pelosi has planned a trip to Taiwan, as she had plans to travel to the island last April but had to cancel them after testing positive for Covid-19.
China claims sovereignty over the island and considers Taiwan a rebellious province since the Kuomintang nationalists retreated there in 1949 after losing a civil war against the Communists.
Taiwan, with which the country of the United States does not maintain official relations, is one of the main sources of conflict between China and the United States, mainly because Washington is the main supplier of weapons to Taiwan and would be its largest military ally in the event of a conflict with the United States. Asian giant.
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait escalated last year as Chinese aircraft incursions into Taiwan’s Air Identification Zone increased and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen acknowledged that the United States has a military presence in the area. called it a “provocation”.
Taiwan has also received several visits from the US Congress in recent months.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
