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| Photo Credit: AP. |
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to bow to threats from China over her reported trip to Taiwan.
McConnell said Pelosi would hand China a win if she backs down from her plans to visit the Island, The Washington Times reports.
The Kentucky
Republican said the U.S. should not bow to Beijing’s saber-rattling.
“If she
doesn’t go now, she’s handling China a sort of a victory of sorts,” Mr.
McConnell told reporters Tuesday, according to The Washington Times.
The Senator
called on the Biden administration to ensure Taiwan has the arms need to meet
“the threat they might actually have to endure.”
China warns of "consequences" if Pelosi visits Taiwan
China had
warned the United States of “consequences” if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi goes
ahead with an alleged plan to visit Taiwan, an Island claimed by Beijing under
its one China policy.
Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian cautioned Pelosi against going ahead
with possible plans to visit Taiwan following a report from the Financial Times
which claimed the California Democrat was planning to visit the island in August.
"We
firmly oppose any form of official interaction between the U.S. and the Taiwan
region," Zhao said during his daily press, according to Newsweek. "If
Speaker Pelosi visits Taiwan, it would seriously violate the one China
principle and the stipulations in the three China-U.S. joint communiqués and
harm China's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
"The
U.S. must not arrange for Speaker Pelosi to visit the Taiwan region and must
stop official interactions with Taiwan," he added. "Should the U.S.
side insist on doing otherwise, China will take strong and resolute measures to
safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The U.S. must assume full
responsibility for any ensuing consequences."
Taiwan’s
foreign ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou told Newsweek on Tuesday that the
Taipei government had not received information about Pelosi’s purported plan to
visit. Pelosi has not officially confirmed the visit.
Chinese ministry will "take strong and resolute measures" if Pelosi visits Taiwan
On Tuesday
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Tan Kefei said that “the Chinese military
will never sit idly by, and will certainly take strong and resolute measures to
thwart any interference by external forces and secessionist attempts for Taiwan
independence,” if Mrs. Pelosi follows through with the visit, according to The
Washington Times.
Pelosi, a
California Democrat is yet to confirm or deny any plans to visit Taiwan. She is
the second in the constitutional line to succeed the president behind only the vice
president and makes her own travel decisions.
National
Security Council spokesman John Kirby described the Chinese Defense Ministry’s
“bellicosity” on Tuesday “unnecessary and uncomfortable,” according to The
Washington Times.
“Rhetoric of
that kind only escalates tensions in a completely unnecessary manner,” he said.