Nancy Pelosi begins closely-watched Asia tour in Singapore
Speaker of the US Representative Council Nancy Pelosi was determined to start a tour of four Asian countries on Monday in Singapore in an intense speculation that he could take the risk of Beijing’s wrath by visiting Taiwan, the island employed by himself claimed by China.
On Sunday, the PelSi office announced that he led the Congress delegation to areas that would include visits to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. That did not mention Taiwan.
China saw a visit by US officials to Taiwan as sending encouraging signals to pro-independence camps on the island. Washington did not have an official diplomatic relationship with Taiwan but was bound by the law to give the island a means to defend themselves.
The pelSi visit, which is in third place in the succession line to the presidency and old Chinese critics, will come in the middle of a deteriorating relationship between Washington and Beijing. The Republic of Newt Gingrich was the last speaker of the DPR who visited Taiwan, in 1997.
During the telephone call last Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his colleague in the U.S. Joe Biden that Washington must comply with the principle of One-China and “Those who play with fire will perish”.
Biden told XI that the U.S. policy About Taiwan has not changed and that Washington strongly opposed unilateral efforts to change the status quo or damage peace and stability in all Taiwan Straits.
On Monday, Prime Minister Taiwan Su Tseng-Chang did not directly respond when asked whether the pelSi would visit on Thursday, as had speculated by local media.
“We always warmly welcome our country visits by prominent foreign guests,” he told reporters in Taipei.
PelSi is expected to arrive in Singapore on Monday for a two -day visit, the CNA announcer reported, quoting the country’s foreign ministries. The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore is scheduled to host the reception with him on Monday afternoon, the website said.
On Sunday, Chinese Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke was quoted by government media who said that Beijing would “firmly protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Shen said in a military air that the Air Force has many types of fighter jets that are able to surround “valuable islands in our homeland”, referring to Taiwan.
Beijing considers Taiwan as part of his territory and never leaves the power to carry the island under its control.
The Asian Tour PelSi came at a politically sensitive time for Chinese leaders and the U.S.
XI is expected to get a third leadership term of office that broke the precedent later this year during the Congress of the Communist Party who has been in power once five years. In the United States, the Democratic Party Biden faced a hard struggle to maintain control over the House of Representatives in the mid -November election.
Last Wednesday, Biden told reporters that he thought the US military believed the pelSi visit to Taiwan “was not a good idea now”.
