China will take “determined and strong steps” if U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues with plans to visit Taiwan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
China threatens with ‘strong measures’ if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan, Pelosi, one of the most powerful women in the White House, is scheduled to visit the Democratic island, which China claims ownership of and defines as its own territory. This is after she was infected with the corona virus.
Pelosi will be the most senior U.S. legislator to investigate the U.S.’s closest ally since being promoted to the position of Newt Gingrich, who traveled there 25 years ago.
China has vowed to annex Taiwan by force if necessary, and has released this threat by flying fighter jets near Taiwan airspace and conducting military exercises based on invasion scenarios. These actions were intended to deter supporters of the island’s official independence and allies from foreign countries – mainly the United States – from coming to its aid, more than 70 years after the parties split in the wake of a civil war.
Pelosi’s visit “will severely undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, severely affect the basis of Sino – US relations and send a grave wrong signal to Taiwan’s independence forces,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijiang said in a daily briefing.
“If the United States insists on going the wrong way, China will take determined and strong steps to maintain its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zhao said. This was stated by the Chinese Ministry of Defense in a statement published on its website on Tuesday.
While Washington maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” as to whether it will defend Taiwan if it is forced to fight China, U.S. law requires the United States to ensure that Taiwan has the means to defend itself.
Washington has only informal relations with Taiwan out of respect for Beijing, but it is the island’s most powerful political ally and the source that provides Taiwan with defensive weapons.
China’s most serious threat to Taiwan came in 1995-96, when it conducted military exercises and launched missiles into the water north and south of the island in response to then – US President Lee Tanghui’s visit to the United States.