China’s military ‘will not sit back’ if Pelosi visits Taiwan

Beijing, Jul 27 (EFE).- China’s military “will not sit back” if the United States House speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan, warned a defense ministry spokesman.

Tan Kefei called on the US to “honor its promise that it will not support Taiwan independence” and added that if Pelosi’s visit takes place, the Chinese military will take “strong actions,” state news agency Xinhua reported late Tuesday night.

“If Speaker Pelosi visits Taiwan, it would seriously violate the one-China principle and the stipulations in the three China-US joint communiques, seriously harm China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and seriously damage the political foundation of China-US relations,” Tan said.

The spokesman warned that it would also “lead to further escalation of the tensions across the Taiwan Strait.”

It is not the first time that Chinese representatives have warned the US about potential consequences since the US media advanced the possibility of this trip. On July 19, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed Beijing’s “firm opposition” to any form of official exchange between the United States and Taiwan.

At the moment, Nancy Pelosi and her team have not confirmed the trip slated for August, according to US media.

If it goes ahead, it would be the first visit by a US house speaker to Taiwan since 1997, when Newt Gingrich visited the island.

Taiwan is one of the main sources of conflict between China and the US, mostly because Washington is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and would be its greatest military ally in the event of a war with China.

Tensions escalated last year, with the number of incursions by Chinese aircraft into Taiwan’s self-defined Air Defense Identification Zone increasing and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen admitting that the US has a military presence on the island.

In the past year, Taiwan has been visited by some US congressmen.

China, which claims sovereignty over the island, considers Taiwan a rebel province and has not ruled out use of force to achieve “reunification.” EFE

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