By Staff Writer.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has touched down at Singapore’s Paya Lebar Air Base to start a high-profile tour of Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. The trip has courted controversy with suggestions the Speaker will also visit Taiwan.
Part of a six-person official delegation, the Speaker’s USAF Boeing C-40C jet left Honolulu on Saturday evening for the long flight west. While the proposed visit to Taiwan has sparked concern in Washington and outrage in Beijing, the official media statement released as the Speaker departed Hawaii did not mention the breakaway Chinese province.
“Our Congressional delegation travels to the Indo-Pacific to reaffirm America’s strong and unshakeable commitment to our allies and friends in the region,” Nancy Pelosi’s statement said.
“In Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, our delegation will hold high-level meetings to discuss how we can further advance our shared interests and values, including peace and security, economic growth and trade, the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, human rights and democratic governance.”
Members of the delegation include Gregory Meeks, Chairperson of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Mark Takano, Chairperson of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs; Suzan DelBene, Vice Chairperson, House Ways and Means Committee; Raja Krishnamoorthi, member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and Andy Kim, member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
China has recently become increasingly outspoken about what they view as a deepening relationship between the US and Taiwan. Under the Biden Administration, the US State Department has put together four military assistance packages for Taiwan this year alone, and initial talks on a bilateral trade agreement have begun.
While many within the Washington establishment want to improve relations with China or maintain the status quo as a baseline minimum, others, including Nancy Pelosi, have been long-time China critics and advocates for an independent Taiwan.
Now in her eighties, many see the Speaker in the twilight of her political career and keen to make a strong symbolic statement on Taiwan. The Speaker planned to visit Taiwan earlier this year but cancelled that visit after catching COVID-19.
Opponents of any visit to Taiwan say such a visit would be about personal political grandstanding and endanger Taiwan’s national security. President Joe Biden said last week he did not think any visit was “a good idea.”
While most analysts don’t believe any visit to Taiwan will spark anything more than condemnation from Beijing, an increasingly belligerent China has warned the Speaker’s delegation not to land in Taipei.
More outspoken figures within the Chinese establishment have suggested the Chinese military may intercept the delegation’s plane. On the weekend, a Chinese Air Force spokesperson said China’s military would “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Meanwhile, the US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group are in the South China Sea. At the same time, the Chinese military is conducting military exercises this week off the coastline of Guangzhou province.
In Singapore for two days, the Speaker and her delegation will meet with President Halimah Yacob, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and several cabinet ministers. The USAF jet will then make its way north to Malaysia before heading towards North Asia and that region’s contested territory.
