US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to visit Taiwan next month, the Financial Times reported yesterday, citing six people familiar with the matter.
Pelosi and her delegation would also visit Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, and spend time in Hawaii at the headquarters of the US Indo-Pacific Command, the paper said.
Her office and the US Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Taiwan’s representative in the US could not immediately be reached.
The Democratic leader had planned to visit Taiwan in April, but the trip was postponed after she tested positive for COVID-19.
At the time, China said such a visit would severely affect Chinese-US relations.
Pelosi held an online meeting with Vice President William Lai (賴清德) in January as he wrapped up a visit to the US and Honduras.
The White House had expressed concern about the trip, the Financial Times said, citing three people familiar with the situation.
There were divisions in the US administration over whether Pelosi should visit Taiwan, the paper quoted two sources as saying.
Some officials believed it had been easier to justify a visit in April, as that was just after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it added.
China sent fighter jets into the Taiwan Strait this month in what Taipei described as a provocation.
The incident came during a visit to Taipei by US Senator Rick Scott, a member of the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee.
News of a possible visit by Pelosi comes after China on Monday asked the US to immediately cancel a potential sale of military technical assistance to Taiwan worth an estimated US$108 million.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday that it had received no information about a planned visit by Pelosi.
Extending invitations to US officials to visit Taiwan is an important task for the ministry as it works to deepen ties with the US, it said, adding that it would make details of any such trip public in due course.
Additional reporting by CNA
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday bestowed one of Taiwan’s highest honors on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman in recognition of her contributions to bilateral ties. “By conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Ambassador Bowman today, I want to sincerely thank her, on behalf of the Taiwanese people, for her outstanding contribution to deepening diplomatic ties between Taiwan and SVG,” Lai said at a ceremony held at the Presidential Office in Taipei. He noted that Bowman became SVG’s first ambassador to Taiwan in 2019 and
A man walks past elementary school artworks at the Taipei Lantern Festival in Ximen District yesterday, the first day of the event. The festival is to run from 5pm to 10pm through March 15.
RSS