Critics Call Pelosi’s Confirmed Trip to Taiwan a ‘Dangerous War Provocation’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Taiwan this week, U.S. and Taiwanese officials said Monday, despite warnings from China, the Biden administration, and anti-war campaigners.

At a Monday press conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said his government “has repeatedly made clear to the U.S. side our serious concern over Speaker Pelosi’s potential visit to Taiwan and our firm opposition to the visit.”

“Pelosi is the third highest-ranking official in the U.S. government, which means it would be highly sensitive for her to visit Taiwan no matter what,” he continued, adding that such a trip constitutes “gross interference in China’s internal affairs.”

“The People’s Liberation Army of China will never sit idly by,” he added ominously, “and we will make [a] resolute response and take strong countermeasures to uphold China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. As for what measures, if she dares to go, then let’s wait and see.”

While U.S. President Joe Biden has said that Pentagon officials believe Pelosi’s visit “is not a good idea right now,” he has been criticized for not objecting more vocally to the trip.

Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly told Biden during a lengthy phone conversation last Thursday that “those who play with fire will eventually get burned,” while the American leader asserted that Congress is an independent branch of the U.S. government whose members make their own decisions.

Ariel Gold, executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and former co-director of the peace group CodePink, lamented that “one would think that while already in the midst of a Cold War that could easily turn hot with nuclear Russia,” it “would be prudent not to escalate within nuclear China, but unfortunately Pelosi doesn’t feel this way.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.