The White House is warning China against taking escalatory actions if Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visits Taiwan, as expected, during her trip to Asia this week, stressing that such a visit does not change anything.
"There's just no reason for this to escalate," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday. "There's every reason given the our national security interests — as well as the interest of our allies and partners that are that are staking the Indo Pacific on any given day — there's every reason for this to not escalate."
Pelosi will reportedly visit Taiwan on Tuesday during her tour of Asia, which kicked off on Monday when she went to Singapore. Beijing has warned that it firmly opposes a visit to Taiwan by the Speaker and that it would impact China-U.S. relations, vowing that China would take "strong and resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity."
"Put simply, there is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with long-standing U.S. policy into some sort of crisis conflict or use it as a pretext to increase aggressive military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait," Kirby said.
Kirby noted on Monday that China is laying the groundwork for potentially more provocations and that China "appears to be positioning itself to potentially take further steps in the coming days, and perhaps over a longer time horizon."
"These potential steps from China could include military provocations, such as firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan," he added.
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