• Pelosi’s planned trip has presented a quandary for the U.S. and China.
• Chinese spokesman warned Pelosi’s visit would send the incorrect message.
• Pelosi’s travel has not been confirmed by her office.

Insiders in Beijing and Washington worry that China’s threats over  planned travel of Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan are not hollow.

“It’s a tough call for the administration,” said Michael Green of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“If they pressure Pelosi to back down, they’ll invite greater Chinese threats and pressure in the future,” he warned. “if they support her going, they risk escalating tensions in the Taiwan Strait.”

He continued, “They’ve got to find an elegant resolution,”

Pelosi’s travel, which has not been confirmed by her office, has presented a quandary for the U.S. and China amid already difficult relations and growing worry in Washington about Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy of 24 million people that Beijing claims as its own.

“Should the U.S. side insist on making the visit, China will act strongly to resolutely respond to it and take countermeasures,”

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman warned the speaker’s visit would send the incorrect message to advocates of independence for the island. “We will do what we say.”

Hu Xijin, the retired editor of the state-backed newspaper Global Times, went further.

“If the U.S. can’t restrain her, let China restrain her & punish her,” he wrote on Twitter. “[The Chinese] Air Force will surely make her visit a disgrace to herself and to the U.S.”

Since April, two congressional delegations have visited Taiwan. Pelosi, second in line to the presidency behind Kamala Harris, would be the most senior U.S. lawmaker to visit Taiwan since Newt Gingrich in 1997.

Also Read

Beijing threatens Nancy Pelosi over Taiwan visit plan

Nancy Pelosi is rumored to be planning a trip to Taiwan. China...