A US news broadcaster on Thursday cited sources as saying that US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi departed for Asia yesterday, with a “tentative” itinerary for Taiwan.
The trip’s official itinerary comprises Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, NBC News said.
The report also cited sources as saying that Pelosi’s Taiwan itinerary was only listed as “tentative,” and whether she would visit Taiwan is not clear.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The report said that Pelosi has invited senior lawmakers to join her on the trip, including US House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Gregory Meeks and US House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano, who led a delegation of lawmakers to Taiwan last year, the report said.
US Representative Michael McCaul’s office on Wednesday said that the lawmaker had also been invited, but he will not be able to go due to other scheduling arrangements.
Pelosi’s planned trip to Taiwan was first reported on Monday last week by the Financial Times, which cited six people familiar with the matter as saying the 82-year-old Democrat is planning to lead a delegation to Taiwan next month to show support for Taipei as it faces increasing pressure from Beijing.
China has expressed strong opposition to Pelosi’s rumored visit to Taipei.
Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the US, said that Pelosi wishes to stop in Taiwan during the Asia trip, based on her knowledge.
“I understand that Pelosi is determined to go. The momentum that has built over the past week certainly has raised the cost of a decision not to go, but I think there are still ways to postpone the trip and save face,” Glaser said.
The US Congress or the executive branch would need to take other measures to signal a resolve to defend US interests and support Taiwan in order to not appear weak in the event the Taiwan trip does not happen, she added.
Ian Easton, senior director at the Project 2049 Institute, a US think tank, yesterday said he believes Pelosi would visit Taiwan.
“I absolutely don’t think it will provoke a crisis in the Taiwan Strait. I think she should go,” he told Voice of America.
If Pelosi decided not to make the trip due to “clear coercion and intimidation tactics” from Beijing, it would “send exactly the wrong message at the wrong time,” he added.
Easton said that Pelosi’s flight would likely be escorted by US Air Force F-22s into Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) “given the nature of the coercion.”
Should the rumored trip be confirmed, Pelosi would be the first sitting US House speaker to visit since 1997, when then-speaker Newt Gingrich traveled to Taipei and met with then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) during another period of tense cross-strait relations.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS