White House: Nancy Pelosi Has Not Confirmed Any Travel Plans to Taiwan, but She Has Right to Visit

Pelosi’s plans to visit Taiwan have sparked a major backlash from Beijing, which condemns any official contacts between the US and Taiwan. The Chinese side has repeatedly claimed that by pursuing the trip Washington would infringe on the one-China principle and jeopardize US-China bilateral relations.

China appears to be positioning itself to potentially take further military steps in the coming days, including over longer time horizons, White House's National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said on Monday.

"These potential steps from China could include military provocations, such as firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan, operations that break historical norms such as large-scale air entry into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone … air or naval activities that crossed the median line and military exercises," Kirby said during a press briefing.

China can also take actions in diplomatic and economic arenas, including regarding the alleged assertions that the Taiwan strait is not an international waterway, Kirby added.

At the same time, Kirby added that the United States will not engage in saber rattling or be intimidated by China following the announcement of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential visit to Taiwan.

"We will keep operating in the seas and the skies of the Western Pacific as we have for decades," Kirby said during a press briefing. "We're also committed to keeping open lines of communication with Beijing."

Kirby noted, however, that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not yet confirmed any travel plans, but she has right to go to Taiwan.

"The speaker has the right to visit Taiwan and the speaker of the House has visited Taiwan before without incident, as have many members of Congress, including this year," Kirby told a briefing.

Earlier in the day Taiwanese news portal ETtoday reported that Pelosi is expected to arrive in Taiwan on Tuesday night, hold a meeting with Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday and leave the island around noon on the same day.

Pelosi as the head of the delegation of around 20 people, including six congressmen, is expected to land at Taipei Songshan Airport around 10:30 p.m. local time (14:30 GMT) on Tuesday. She will spend the night at the Grand Hyatt Hotel and visit the Taiwanese parliament on Wednesday morning, where she will hold meetings with the island's leadership, including President Tsai Ing-wen.

On the same day, around noon, Pelosi will board a plane and leave Taiwan, thus completing her brief visit, ETtoday said.

Pelosi is currently in Singapore leading a US delegation of Democratic congressmen on an Asian tour, which also includes visits to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. US media reported earlier that Pelosi may also travel to Taiwan as part of the Asian trip, with the speaker herself refusing to unveil the details of the tour, as well as the plans to visit Taiwan, citing security concerns.

The visit of the US house speaker to Taiwan was speculated on back in April, but then the Asian tour was postponed after Pelosi tested positive for the coronavirus. The media also reported that Chinese diplomats in the United States were actively working to convey to US congressmen the inadvisability of visiting the island in the interests of both countries.

Taiwan became alienated from Beijing after becoming a stronghold of the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) that suffered defeat to the Communist Party in a civil war in 1949. The Chinese mainland and the island resumed business and informal contacts in the late 1980s. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign countries with Taiwan and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.