The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (California), confirmed her trip to Asia with a congressional delegation, but did not mention any stop in Taiwan, after threats from China to shoot down her plane in the event of a tour through that territory.
The Democrat began her trip on Friday, according to a Bloomberg report, later confirmed by Pelosi herself, and will make stops in Japan, Indonesia and Singapore.
“I am leading a congressional delegation to the Indo-Pacific to reaffirm our unquestionable commitment to our allies and friends in the region. In Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan we are going to have high-level meetings to discuss how we can share our interests and values,” Pelosi tweeted.
He added that some of the key issues are security and pacification actions, as well as economic growth plans.
The delegation will stop in Hawaii for refueling, Pelosi said in a thread on Twitter.
There is no confirmation that he will visit Taiwan, amid threats from the Xi Jinping government to shoot down the aircraft if Pelosi stops in that territory claimed by China as its own.
Also invited to the trip were the two main members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, Democratic representative Gregory Meeks (New York) and Republican Michael McCaul (Texas).
Citing security reasons, the report indicates, Meeks did not confirm the trip or the itinerary .
Hu Xijin, a member of the Global Times, a media outlet affiliated with the Chinese government, warned about “consequences” of the trip and accused the Taiwanese authority of being responsible.
“If Pelosi really does visit Taiwan as planned, the Tsai Ing-wen authorities are complicit,” he wrote in a tweet that was later deleted by the social network, but had gone viral. “The core land (China) will definitely carry out severe punitive actions on Taiwan at the same time. The tremendous consequences will fall on the Tsai authorities”.
Reports from various media, including the specialized magazine Foreign Policy, made echo of China’s threats about a possible attack on Pelosi, but the White House has not wanted to mention the issue, even after President Joe Biden’s phone call with Jinping, the efforts in economic matters were highlighted.
Questioned about it, spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said that the threat was something that simply “was not going to be talked about”.
“I know you are specifically asking about the rhetoric we hear from China. But when it comes to the spokeswoman’s travel, it’s something we’re just not going to talk about,” Jean-Pierre said last week, ahead of Pelosi’s trip.
There were reports from CNN and The Washington Post, among other media, that the US Army has been on alert and taken additional actions in the Indo-Pacific region to avoid setbacks.