The president of the House of Representatives is on the way to a trip to Asia during which she could go to Taiwan, a source of tensions between China and the United States.
Le Monde with AFP
Nancy Pelosi confirmed, Sunday, July 31, being as planned on the way to Asia. But the president of the American House of Representatives has not yet specified whether or not she would take a step in Taiwan, a possible visit which could further increase relations between China and the United States.
“I conduct a delegation from Congress in the Indo-Pacific region to reaffirm America’s unshakable commitment to its allies and friends in the region,” the Democrat announced in a press release. “In Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, we will hold high -level meetings to discuss how we can promote our common values and interests, especially peace and security, economic growth and trade , the pandemic of Covid-19, the climate crisis, human rights and democratic governance, “she added.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore confirmed that Nancy Pelosi and the delegation which accompanies it would go to the city-state of 1 er to August 2.
A possible visit view as a provocation by Beijing
The president of the House of Representatives maintains the vagueness around a possible visit to Taiwan, for security reasons.
For weeks, tensions between the United States and China have increased as a result of information that it could go to the autonomous island, which China considers it as part of its territory. Beijing would see a passage, even in short, of the president of the House of Representatives on the island as a provocation.
Washington has no diplomatic relations with Taipei and recognizes the communist regime of Beijing as the only representative of China. But the United States sells weapons to the island and praise its “democratic” regime.
The visit of Nancy Pelosi is part of the context of rising military tension in the region. The Taiwanese army carried out its most important annual military exercises this week, which included simulations of interception of Chinese attacks from the sea. At the same time, the American aircraft carrier Uss Ronald-Reagan and its flotilla left Singapore , to go to the Southern China Sea as part of a scheduled operation, the US Navy, the American Navy said.
and Saturday, as a response, China organized a military exercise “with real ammunition” in the Taiwan Strait.