Joe Biden has cautioned against the reported trip to Taiwan next month by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, saying the US military had assessed “it is not a good idea right now”.
The Financial Times reported earlier this week that Pelosi would lead a delegation to Taiwan in August to show support for the democratically ruled island, which Beijing claims is a breakaway province. The trip was initially scheduled for April but was postponed due to Pelosi testing positive for Covid at the time.
“Well, I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now,” said Biden on Wednesday of the reported trip, which Beijing said would cause further damage to the bilateral relationship. “But I don’t know what the status of it is,” Biden added.
Biden’s comments came as the US president is scheduled to speak to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, by the end of the month. The call will be the two leaders’ first in four months. Analysts said Biden and Xi would discuss issues ranging from Taiwan to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the Central Intelligence Agency’s director, Bill Burns, said China was “unsettled” when looking at Russia’s five-month-old war in Ukraine, which he characterised as a “strategic failure” for Vladimir Putin as he had hoped to topple the Kyiv government within a week.
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, Burns played down speculation Xi could move on Taiwan after a key Communist party meeting later this year, but added: “I wouldn’t underestimate President Xi’s determination to assert China’s control” over self-ruling Taiwan.
