US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi departs the White House in Washington DC following a signing event for a postal service reform act on April 6, 2022. Pelosi tested positive for COVID-19 on April 7 and postponed her Asia trip and reported visit to the island of Taiwan. Photo: VCG

 

 

China urges the US to not arrange US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit the Taiwan island and to stop creating tensions over the Taiwan Straits, or China will take forceful countermeasures to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a routine press conference on Tuesday. 

China has already reiterated its stance on the issue on many occasions. China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between the US and the Taiwan island. The House of Representatives is part of the US administration, so it should abide by the one-China principle upheld by the US, Zhao said.

If Pelosi visits Taiwan, it will constitute a serious violation of the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués; this will also be regarded as a serious attempt at damaging China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, striking at the political foundation of the China-US relations and sending wrong signals to the secessionists on the island, Zhao noted.

Zhao said China will take forceful countermeasures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity if Pelosi visits Taiwan and the US will have to bear all consequences. 

Pelosi plans to visit the Taiwan island next month, in what would be the first trip by a Speaker of the US House of Representatives to Taiwan in 25 years, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing six people familiar with the situation. The 82-year-old California lawmaker cancelled a previous visit in April after she caught COVID-19.

Pelosi would be the most senior US lawmaker to visit the island after one of her predecessors as Speaker, Republican Newt Gingrich, travelled there in 1997, according to Financial Times. 

Global Times