August 3, 2022
SEOUL – South Korea‘s Foreign Ministry is keeping a watchful eye on the escalating tensions between the United States and China as the US House speaker is reportedly expected to visit Taiwan, a ministry official said Tuesday.
Nancy Pelosi, the US House speaker is reportedly planning to visit Taiwan as part of her Asian tour, despite warnings from China, which views the official American contact with Taiwan as a show of support for the island’s independence — Beijing claims the self-ruled island as its own territory.
While the South Korean ministry did not provide an official comment regarding Pelosi’s possible visit to Taiwan, the ministry said it still supports peace and stability in Taiwan Strait.
“It is not appropriate for the government to comment on the travel plan of personnel from the US Congress,” South Korean Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Spokesperson Ahn Eun-ju said in a regular press briefing.
“We continue to support peaceful development of our bilateral relationship (with Taiwan), and that stability and peace of the Taiwan Strait is important.”
A foreign ministry official informed on the matter also told reporters that Seoul is “keeping a watchful eye” on the situation.
Pelosi arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday for the second leg of an Asian tour, after visiting Singapore the day before, where she met with the country’s president, prime minister and other top officials.
Her official itinerary included stops in South Korea and Japan, but it did not mention of her visit to Taiwan.
Local media in Taiwan reported that Pelosi will arrive in Taipei on Tuesday night, becoming the highest-ranking elected US official to visit in more than 25 years. The United Daily News, Liberty Times and China Times — Taiwan’s three largest national newspapers — cited unidentified sources as saying she would fly to Taipei and spend the night after visiting Malaysia.
China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be annexed by force if necessary, has warned of repercussions, saying its military will “never sit idly by” if Pelosi pushes ahead with the visit. China’s threats of retaliation have driven concerns of a new crisis in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the two sides, that could roil global markets and supply chains.
The White House on Monday decried Beijing’s rhetoric, saying the US has no interest in deepening tensions with China and “will not take the bait or engage in saber rattling.”
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby underscored that the decision on whether to visit the self-ruled island was ultimately Pelosi’s. He noted that members of Congress have routinely visited Taiwan over the years.
Kirby said administration officials are concerned that Beijing could use the visit as an excuse to take provocative retaliatory steps, including military action such as firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan, or flying sorties into the island’s airspace and carrying out large-scale naval exercises in the strait.
“Put simply, there is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with long-standing US policy into some sort of crisis or use it as a pretext to increase aggressive military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait,” Kirby said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also urged China to “act responsibly” in the event that Pelosi proceeds with the visit.
“If the speaker does decide to visit, and China tries to create some kind of a crisis or otherwise escalate tensions, that would be entirely on Beijing,” he told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
“We are looking for them, in the event she decides to visit, to act responsibly and not to engage in any escalation going forward.”
US officials have said the military would increase its movement of forces and assets in the Indo-Pacific region if Pelosi visits Taiwan. US Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group were in the Philippine Sea on Monday, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
The Reagan, the cruiser USS Antietam and the destroyer USS Higgins left Singapore after a port visit and moved north to their homeport in Japan. The carrier has an array of aircraft, including F/A-18 fighter jets and helicopters, on board as well as sophisticated radar systems and other weapons.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 after the Communists won a civil war on the mainland. The US maintains informal relations and defense ties with Taiwan even as it recognizes Beijing as the government of China.
Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make the island’s decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step US leaders say they don’t support.
Pelosi, head of one of three branches of the US government, would be the highest-ranking elected American official to visit Taiwan since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997.
Pelosi kicked off her Asian tour in Singapore on Monday but her purported visit to Taiwan has sparked jitters in the region.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong “highlighted the importance of stable US-China relations for regional peace and security” during talks with Pelosi, the city-state’s foreign ministry said. This was echoed by Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, who said stable ties between the two rival powers “are extremely important for the international community as well.”
The Philippines urged US and China to be “responsible actors” in the region.
“It is important for the US and China to ensure continuing communication to avoid any miscalculation and further escalation of tensions,” said Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza.
China has been steadily ratcheting up diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan. China cut off all contact with Taiwan’s government in 2016 after President Tsai Ing-wen refused to endorse its claim that the island and mainland together make up a single Chinese nation, with the Communist regime in Beijing being the sole legitimate government.
On Thursday, Pelosi is to meet with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo in Seoul for talks on security in the Indo-Pacific region, economic cooperation and the climate crisis, according to Kim’s office. Pelosi is also due to visit Japan, but it is unclear when she heading there.