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President Biden said the U.S. military does not support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) visit to Taiwan this summer.
Stepping off Air Force One late Wednesday, Biden was asked about the possibility of Pelosi’s trip, which has not been confirmed by the State Department or her office.
Biden said “the military doesn’t think it’s a good idea right now,” but noted he wasn’t sure “what the status is on that.”
China’s foreign ministry bristled on Tuesday after media reports that Pelosi planned to visit the democratic island, which is claimed by Beijing, as part of a wider tour of Asia in August.
China says it will take “forceful measures” if Pelosi visits Taiwan
At her weekly news conference on Thursday, Pelosi, who is second in line for the presidency, said she never discusses her travel plans because it is a matter of national security.
“You never even hear me say if I’m going to London because it’s a security issue,” she told reporters. Earlier this week, her office said it would neither confirm nor deny international travel “in advance due to long-standing security protocols.”
The Financial Times first reported the news of Pelosi’s trip, saying she will visit Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Pressed by a reporter about Biden’s remarks, Pelosi said, “I think what the president said is that maybe the military was afraid that our plane was going to be shot down or something by the Chinese. I don’t know exactly. I didn’t see it. I didn’t hear it. You tell me, and I’ve heard it anecdotally,” she said.
Pelosi had planned to lead a congressional delegation to Taiwan in April, but postponed her trip after contracting the coronavirus. A visit this summer would make her one of the most senior U.S. politicians to travel to Taiwan in recent years and the first House speaker to visit there since Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) did so in 1997.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said this week that the trip has not been announced and remains “hypothetical.”
Biden also told reporters he expected to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping “in the next 10 days.” He balked at whether he would raise the issue of tariffs and trade with the leader of the world’s second-largest economy amid rising inflation in the United States.
Sino-US relations remain tense, and Taiwan is a sensitive issue.
“If the United States insists on going ahead, China will have to take firm and decisive measures to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday. Such a trip would cause “serious harm,” he added, and “seriously affect the political foundations of Sino-US relations.”
Pelosi, who has been critical of China over its stance on Taiwan, met virtually in January with Taiwan’s Vice President William Lai Ching-te when he was in the United States. He thanked Pelosi for standing up for human rights and called her a “true friend” of Taiwan.
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Beijing claims Taiwan as its own and has vowed to achieve what it calls “unification,” threatening to use force if necessary to take control of the self-ruled island. For decades, the United States has walked a fine line, taking no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty status but repeatedly saying it opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo.
During his first trip to Asia as president in May, Biden signaled a more confrontational approach to China and issued a stark warning against any potential attack on Taiwan.
Asked at the time whether the United States would defend Taiwan militarily if it was attacked by Beijing, Biden said: “Yes, that is the commitment we have made.” His comment represented a departure from the usual US policy of strategic ambiguity on the subject, and was quickly dismissed by aides and criticized by Beijing at the time.
Taiwan has lived under military threat from Beijing since Communist forces defeated the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, prompting the Nationalists to flee to Taiwan and set up a rival government.
Christian Shepherd and Missy Hamvongsa contributed to this report.
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