Nancy Pelosi may visit Taiwan in July, China Minister told: US

• The US House Speaker’s trip to Taiwan was discussed with China’s foreign minister last month.
• But there were no preparations for the two nations’ top diplomats to meet this week in Cambodia.
• Beijing reacted angrily to the highest-level US visit to Taiwan in a quarter-century by increasing military activities.

A senior US source said Wednesday that Nancy Pelosi visit to Taiwan was discussed with China’s foreign minister last month, but there were no preparations for the two nations’ top diplomats to meet this week in Cambodia.

During a more than five-hour G20 summit in Bali, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the possibility of Pelosi’s travel with Wang Yi and stated that any such trip would be solely Pelosi’s decision and independent of the US government.

“The question is whether Beijing will try to use the trip as some kind of excuse to take steps that could be escalatory or that could somehow produce conflict,” the senior State Department official said. Beijing shouldn’t overreact to a trip that was neither exceptional nor extraordinary.

“China should not use this as a pretext to continue what it’s been doing, which is seeking to change the status quo with regard to Taiwan,” the official said.

“And if any escalation or crisis were to somehow follow her visit, it would be on Beijing.”

On Wednesday, Reuters requested a reaction from China’s foreign ministry.

China reacted angrily to the highest-level US visit to Taiwan in a quarter-century by increasing military activities and blocking imports from Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan its own land and has never renounced force to rule it.

Blinken was headed to Cambodia for a series of discussions that will culminate in this Friday’s ASEAN Regional Forum, a security-focused gathering of 27 countries.

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The person said there would be no direct contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Phnom Penh and that Moscow had shown no signs of ending hostilities in Ukraine.

“If we actually saw any kind of meaningful diplomatic opening to help end the aggression, we would, of course, engage, but we’ve not seen that.”

This week’s gathering is hosted by ASEAN, which the US hopes can discuss how to “sustain and increase pressure” on Myanmar’s junta to end its crackdown on its opponents.

The official said the U.S. wants to expand relations with ASEAN chair Cambodia, China’s strongest ally in Southeast Asia, but emphasised transparency about its interaction with Beijing’s military.

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