(Beijing) Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelsoi has landed in Taiwan, despite China’s final warning, which warned on Tuesday that the United States “will have to pay the price” if the visit goes ahead. .
Posted at 6:20 a.m.
Updated at 10:52 a.m.
Touring Asia, Nancy Pelosi, 82, is the highest elected US official to visit the island in 25 years. It risks provoking a strong resurgence of tension in the region and leading to Chinese reprisals against American and Taiwanese interests.
“The United States will certainly be responsible (for the consequences) and will have to pay the price for their attack on China’s sovereignty and security,” Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for Chinese diplomacy, told reporters.
“The American side has betrayed its word on the Taiwan issue,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement, referring to the commitment of the United States, since 1979, to have no official relationship. with Taiwan.
China considers Taiwan, with a population of around 23 million, to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War ( 1949).
Opposed to any initiative giving the Taiwanese authorities international legitimacy, Beijing is against any official contact between Taiwan and other countries.
Military plane
US officials and parliamentarians regularly visit the island. But China judges that a visit by Mme Pelosi, one of the highest figures in the American state, would be a major provocation.
Last week, during a telephone interview with US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Americans “not to play with fire”.
If the White House is embarrassed by the situation, John Kirby, his spokesman, however, said Monday that Mr.me Pelosi had “the right to visit Taiwan”.
“There is no reason for Beijing to make this visit, which does not depart from long-standing American doctrine, a form of crisis,” he said.
The last Speaker of the United States House of Representatives to visit Taiwan was Newt Gingrich in 1997.
Most observers rate the likelihood of armed conflict as low. But US officials have said they are preparing for shows of force from the Chinese military, such as missile launches in the Taiwan Strait or aerial incursions around the island.
“Sheer provocation”
Since 1979, Washington has recognized only one Chinese government, that of Beijing, while continuing to provide support to the Taiwanese authorities, with in particular multiple arms sales.
The United States also practices “strategic ambiguity”: in short, they refrain from saying whether or not they would defend the island militarily in the event of an invasion.
Russia, a major ally of China, on Tuesday accused the Americans of “destabilizing the world” and described Nancy Pelosi’s visit as “pure provocation”.
After Singapore, Mme Pelosi was in Malaysia on Tuesday, where she met with the prime minister and the speaker of the lower house of parliament, on the second leg of her Asia trip.
According to the Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Timeswho cites anonymous sources, the American leader will land on the island on Tuesday evening and will meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen the next day, a pet peeve of Beijing, because she comes from an independence party.
On Tuesday evening, the Taiwanese presidency also indicated that its website had been briefly taken out of service due to a cyberattack.
She did not give a reason, saying she was increasing her vigilance in the face of the “hybrid information warfare led by external forces”.
Military maneuvers
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said it was “determined” to protect the island against any attack.
“The likelihood of a war or a serious incident is low,” however, tweeted Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the American think tank German Marshall Fund.
“But the likelihood that (China) will take a series of military, economic and diplomatic measures […] is not negligible,” she added.
Taiwanese agriculture authorities said on Tuesday that Beijing had suspended the import of certain Taiwanese goods, such as fish products, tea and honey.
Nancy Pelosi’s potential visit is raising tension in the area.
Last week, the Taiwanese military conducted its largest annual military exercises, which included mock interceptions of Chinese attacks.
For its part, China organized a “live ammunition” military exercise on Sunday in the Taiwan Strait – very close to the Chinese coast, however. Other exercises are underway in other maritime areas of the country.