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| Photo Credit: AP. |
The U.S. Military would provide security for House Speaker Nancy to ensure her safety during her alleged visit to Taiwan.
Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that the U.S. military would ensure the safety of Pelosi if she decides to go ahead with her reported plans to visit Taiwan in August, Newsweek reports.
China has
reacted furiously to the alleged visit, threatening “consequences” is the
California Democrat goes ahead with the visit.
Pentagon will facilitate safe travel of Pelosi
Milley told reporters
at a gathering of regional military leaders in Sydney that the Pentagon had always
facilitated the safe travel of members of Congress and would do the same for the
speaker, according to Newsweek.
"If
there's a decision made that Speaker Pelosi or anyone else is going to travel
and they ask for military support, we will do what is necessary to ensure a
safe conduct of their visit," he said.
Pelosi is
yet to confirm her visit to the island but speculated that the military was
afraid of her visit.
"I
think what the President was saying is maybe the military was afraid our plane
would get shot down or something like that by the Chinese. I don't know
exactly," she said.
According
Newsweek, U.S. officials said Wednesday that they don’t fear a direct attack on
the House speaker’s aircraft, or attempts by the Chinese military to sabotage the
visit. The military expressed concern that Chinese military warplanes could
make more incursions into Taiwanese airspace.
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.