Nancy Pelosi arrives Malaysia for Asian tour which would escalate tensions with China

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday to begin the second phase of her Asian tour overshadowed by an anticipated stop in Taiwan, which would heighten tensions with China. Beijing claims ownership of the autonomous island.

Pelosi and her group arrived by jet at an air force installation under heavy protection. She visited the lower house speaker at the House of Representatives before adjourning for lunch with the prime minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Pelosi will arrive in Taipei on Tuesday night, according to local media in Taiwan, becoming the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to visit Taiwan in more than 25 years, despite their being no formal announcements. She would travel to Taipei and spend the night there after visiting Malaysia, according to unnamed sources quoted by Taiwan’s three biggest daily newspapers, The United Daily News, Liberty Times, and China Times.

China has threatened consequences, stating that its military will “never sit quietly by” if Pelosi carries through with the visit. China views Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reclaimed by force, if necessary. Fears of a fresh conflict in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the two sides, and might disrupt global markets and supply lines, have been raised in response to China’s vows of reprisal.

Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said on Tuesday that Beijing and Washington have spoken about Pelosi’s anticipated trip to Taiwan.

Pelosi Asia

The White House condemned Beijing’s rhetoric on Monday, asserting that the United States “will not take the bait or participate in saber rattling” and that it has no interest in heightening tensions with China.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, emphasized that Pelosi was ultimately in charge of deciding whether to travel to the autonomous island. He mentioned the frequent congressional visits to Taiwan over the years.

According to Kirby, administration officials are worried that Beijing might use the visit as an excuse to engage in provocative retaliation, including military action like firing missiles into the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan, conducting large-scale naval exercises in the strait, or flying sorties into the island’s airspace.

“Put simply, there is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with long-standing U.S. policy into some sort of crisis or use it as a pretext to increase aggressive military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait,” Kirby said.

In case Pelosi goes ahead with the visit, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also asked China to “act responsibly.”

“If the speaker does decide to visit, and China tries to create some kind of a crisis or otherwise escalate tensions, that would be entirely on Beijing,” he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. “We are looking for them, in the event she decides to visit, to act responsibly and not to engage in any escalation going forward.”

American authorities have stated that if Pelosi visits Taiwan, the military would transfer more personnel and equipment there. On Monday, the Philippine Sea was home to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its strike group, according to sources who talked on the record to discuss military activities.

Following a port call in Singapore, the Reagan, the cruiser USS Antietam, and the destroyer USS Higgins headed north to their homeport in Japan. The carrier is equipped with a wide variety of aircraft, including as F/A-18 fighter planes, helicopters, advanced radar systems, and other armaments.

After the Communists won a civil war on the mainland, Taiwan and China divided in 1949. Even though it acknowledges Beijing as the government of China, the United States still has informal contacts and military cooperation with Taiwan.

Beijing interprets official American contacts with Taiwan as encouragement to formally recognize Taiwan’s long-standing de facto independence, a move that American authorities claim they oppose. Since former Speaker Newt Gingrich visited Taiwan in 1997, Pelosi, head of one of the three branches of the U.S. government, would be the highest-ranking elected American politician to do so.

Pelosi began her Asian tour on Monday in Singapore, but her rumored trip to Taiwan has alarmed locals.

During his discussions with Pelosi, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong “highlighted the significance of stable U.S.-China ties for regional peace and security,” according to the foreign ministry of the city-state. In Tokyo, Yoshimasa Hayashi, the foreign minister of Japan, echoed this sentiment when he remarked that strong connections between the two hostile nations were “very vital for the international community as well.”

The Philippines encouraged China and the United States to engage in the area “responsibly.” According to Teresita Daza, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs, “It is crucial that the United States and China maintain ongoing dialogue to avoid any miscalculation and further escalation of tensions.”

Chinese pressure on Taiwan has been progressively increasing on the diplomatic and military fronts. As a result of President Tsai Ing-refusal wen’s to accept China’s assertion that the island and mainland together constitute a single Chinese country, with the Communist dictatorship in Beijing serving as the only legal government, China severed all ties with Taiwan’s government in 2016.

According to Kim’s office, Pelosi will meet with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin Pyo on Thursday in Seoul to discuss security in the Indo-Pacific area, economic collaboration, and the climate problem. Pelosi is also scheduled to travel to Japan, though it is unknown when.