White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that the United States doesn’t search to show House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s go to to Taiwan right into a disaster with China.
Ms Jean-Pierre made the comment throughout a White House press briefing on Wednesday after Ms Pelosi turned the highest-ranking US authorities official to go to Taiwan.
“There’s no reason for Beijing to turn this visit, which is consistent with long standing US policy and into some sort of crisis,” Ms Jean-Pierre instructed reporters.
The remarks come after state-owned media in China referred to as Ms Pelosi’s journey an “opening salvo of war”. While Taiwan is a self-governing island off the coast of China with its personal authorities and structure, China considers it a breakaway province. In response, China vowed “consequences” for the go to, asserting army drills surrounding the island.
But the White House stated that this was not motive for battle.
“There is no reason to do that,” Ms Jean-Pierre stated. “We have been very clear there’s no change in our one China policy, which is guided by the time the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.”
Ms Pelosi defended her go to in a press release, saying that Taiwan has been excluded from world conferences such because the World Health Organisation due to objections from the Chinese Communist Party.
“While they may prevent Taiwan from sending its leaders to global forums, they cannot prevent world leaders or anyone from traveling to Taiwan to pay respect to its flourishing Democracy, to highlight its many successes and to reaffirm our commitment to continued collaboration,” she stated.
Despite considerations from the White House, 25 Senate Republicans defended her go to to Taiwan. Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri highlighted in a press convention on Tuesday that the final highest-ranking official to go to Taiwan was former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
“I’m about to use four words in a row that I haven’t used in this way before and those four words are ‘Speaker Pelosi was right’ when she decided to include Taiwan on her visit to Asia,” he stated.
Fox News’s Peter Doocy requested throughout the briefing why Republicans have been extra obsessed with her go to than the White House.
“Members of Congress have the right to travel wherever they choose are part of this, to make sure we give them a thorough and complete briefing when it comes to the geopolitics of the region or the state or when it comes to national security,” she stated.
-Sravasti Dasgupta contributed to this report.
