House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. File photoUN Aug 2 China will do everything in its power to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity if US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan, China's envoy to the UN Zhang Jun said.
"We should wait and see. But we will do everything in our power to protect our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said at a briefing, answering a question about what China could do if Pelosi visited Taiwan.
Pelosi's Asian tour, which will take her to Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, comes with increased global attention following reports of plans to visit Taiwan. If the visit to the Chinese island takes place despite Beijing's protests, it would be the first visit by a speaker of the US House of Representatives since 1997. The US administration, warned by the Chinese president that «playing with fire risks getting burned,» assured Beijing of its commitment to the «one China» policy, but distanced itself from a possible visit, saying that the speaker makes decisions herself. Taiwanese media reports that she may arrive on the island on Tuesday and meet with the leadership of the island administration on Wednesday. The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry does not confirm these reports. The PRC considers the island its province and always opposes any contact between Taipei representatives and current officials, especially high-ranking officials, or the military from countries with which Beijing has diplomatic relations. Reports of a possible visit to Pelosi Island, which Beijing calls the third most important official in the US government, expectedly provoked an extremely negative reaction from China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that in the event of Pelosi's visit to Beijing Island, he will definitely take decisive and effective measures to protect state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the United States will be fully responsible for all the serious consequences arising from this. At the same time, Chinese officials did not specify what kind of drastic measures they were talking about. Pelosi's visit