It is claimed that the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is expected to visit Taiwan this evening after her contacts in Malaysia on her tour of the Pacific countries.
The Taiwanese newspaper China Times reported that Pelosi will arrive in Taipei today at 22.30 local time (5:30 pm) and will spend the night on the Island.
In the news, it was argued that Pelosi will meet with Taiwan’s leader Tsai Ing-wen tomorrow morning, and then leave the island at 10:00 am.
The American broadcaster CNN, yesterday, based its news on two unnamed government officials, one American and the other Taiwanese, suggested that Pelosi would stop by Taiwan and spend the night there.
Bloomberg also claimed that Pelosi would meet with Tsai.
In the statement published on the official website of the Speaker of the Parliament, Taiwan was not included among the stops of the tour, which included Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.
Pelosi, who left the USA on July 29 and took a break in Hawaii, and her 5 member Congress delegation held talks in Singapore yesterday. Pelosi met with Singapore President Halimah Yakob, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and attended the reception of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.
Pelosi and her entourage reportedly arrived in Malaysia, the second stop of the visit, this morning.
Pelosi is accompanied by Gregory Meeks, Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Mark Takano, Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, Suzan DelBene, Vice Chairman of the Roads and Means Committee, Raja Krishnamoorthi, member of the Standing Special Committee on Intelligence, and Andy Kim, member of the Armed Forces Committee and Foreign Relations Committee. .
ALLEGED TO VISIT TAIWAN CAUSED TENSION
Rumors that Pelosi would visit Taiwan as part of the trip caused tension in US-China relations.
Due to the possible visit, it was observed that the military activity of the US and Chinese armies near Taiwan increased.
The Ronald Reagan warship, which was attached to the 7th fleet of the US Navy in the Pacific, left Singapore with the war fleet at the beginning of the week and moved towards the South China Sea in the northeast direction.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army navy also held exercises in Fucien, on the opposite coast of Taiwan Island, and Guangdong provinces on the South China Sea coast, while the areas were closed to ship traffic.
VISIT PLANNED IN APRIL CANCELED
82-year-old Pelosi’s planned visit to Taiwan in April was canceled on the grounds that she caught Kovid-19.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned at the time that Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan would mean “crossing the red line” defined by the “one China” principle.
If the visit takes place, Pelosi will be “the first Speaker of the US House of Representatives to visit the Island in 25 years”. Earlier in 1997, Newt Gingrich had visited Taiwan while on this mission.