Download
Pelosi postpones Asia trip after testing positive for COVID-19
Updated 04:32, 09-Apr-2022
CGTN

The U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi has postponed her Asia trip after she was tested positive for COVID-19, Pelosi's deputy communications director said in a tweet on Thursday.

Some media in Japan and Taiwan reported that in her Asia trip, Pelosi plans to visit Taiwan after a stop in Japan, though the U.S. government has not made an official announcement of Pelosi's trip to Taiwan.

Pelosi should cancel her trip to the Taiwan region, rather than postpone it, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Friday. Zhao also expressed sympathy about the Pelosi's COVID infection and hoped that she can recover soon.

The reports of Pelosi's planned Taiwan trip have also sparked heated discussions in China.

A popular Chinese social media account "Views on the Taiwan Straits" said that some U.S. politicians seem to have a wrong mentality toward the peaceful rise of China. They are willing to take any chance to block China's development, the account argued. Pelosi's planned trip to Taiwan is a risky move and will send a serious wrong signal to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, the account continued. The move will also seriously undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and harm China-U.S. relations, it said.

Some U.S. politicians said they are committed to one-China policy, but what they did was the opposite, "Views on the Taiwan Straits" added.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian warned on Thursday that if Pelosi visited the island of Taiwan, China will definitely respond with "resolute and forceful measures". He said China firmly opposes all forms of official interaction between the U.S. and Taiwan.

Noting that the U.S. Congress is a part of the U.S. government, the spokesperson said it should strictly abide by the one-China principle that the U.S. has supported.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, on Thursday responded that the Chinese side will never tolerate "Taiwan independence" separatist acts and wrong words or actions of the U.S. side that undermine China's core interests.

He said the increasing collusion between Taiwan and the United States has escalated the tension across the Taiwan Straits.

China has repeatedly urged the U.S. to stop playing with fire on Taiwan, saying a wrong move could fundamentally shake China-U.S. relations.

Check out The China Report, our new weekly newsletter. Subscribe here!

Search Trends