Pelosi to visit Taiwan in first such trip for 25 years, says FNN

Bloomberg

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to visit Taiwan, according to media reports, a landmark display of American support that triggered a diplomatic protest from Beijing.
Pelosi will arrive in Taipei on Sunday following a visit to Japan, according to reports in both Taiwan and Japan, including by Fuji News Network, which cited people it did not identify. It would be the first visit by a serving US house speaker since Newt Gingrich traveled to Taiwan in 1997.
Pelosi’s office declined to say whether she was traveling to Taipei when contacted by Bloomberg News, citing longstanding security protocols.
Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou declined to comment when asked about a potential visit at a press briefing, saying the government will release statement “at the right time.”
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen would welcome the show of diplomatic support at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concern that China may follow through on its oft-repeated threat to take control of the democratic island by military force.
It would represent the latest in a series of visits by senior
US officials to Taiwan in recent years and the most high-profile under the presidency of Joe Biden.
Tsai met a bipartisan group led by former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen in Taipei in February. That was followed a day later by the arrival of former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on a private trip.
In 2020, two senior officials from the administration of
former President Donald Trump — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Undersecretary of State Keith Krach — led delegations to Taiwan.
Azar was the highest ranking sitting US administration official to visit Taipei since Washington switched official ties to Beijing in 1979. Beijing lodged a
protest with Washington over reports of Pelosi’s planned
visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
“If she does visit, China will take strong measures and the consequences will be borne by the US,” Zhao said, without giving details on what those steps would entail.
“While the crisis in Ukraine is still ongoing, the US is deliberately taking the offensive towards China,” Hu wrote.