Antony Blinken Secretary of State stated that Nancy Pelosi was the third highest ranking US official and is free from any interference. She warned China to not escalate tensions in case the House of Representatives Speaker visits Taiwan.
“The speaker will make her own decisions about whether or not to visit Taiwan. Congress is an autonomous, equal branch of government. The decision is entirely the speaker’s,”After a Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, Blinken said to journalists at UN headquarters New York.
US Ambassador to China, John Bolton, claimed that Beijing exaggerated the significance of the trip. “China tries to create some kind of crisis or otherwise escalate tensions, that would be entirely on Beijing.”
Blinken claimed that Washington is expecting Beijijng. “act responsibly and not to engage in any escalation going forward,”According to multiple media outlets, Pelosi may have visited Taiwan in the end. This was reported in Taipei as well.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also repeatedly emphasized that Biden’s administration had no control over Pelosi’s possible visit, given that Congress is an independent branch of government, and that her trip wouldn’t reflect any change in US policy.
“The speaker has the right to visit Taiwan, and the speaker of the House has visited Taiwan without incident,”Kirby referred to Monday’s 1997 Newt Gingrich trip, which he repeated on Monday. He said, “Nothing has changed about our One China policy…”
Beijing has repeatedly warned that the One-China principle of acknowledging the mainland’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan is a red line in it’s relations with other countries that no one is allowed to cross.
Taiwan has been self-governed since 1949, after China’s nationalist government fled to the island following its defeat in the civil war. Beijing considers the island an integral part of the country’s territory.
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