The president of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosy, began a tour of Asia this Monday in Singapore, marked by the question of whether it will include a controversial visit to Taiwan, speaking with the Singaporean Government on the self-governed island, whose sovereignty Beijing claims.

According to a statement released by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pelosi, who leads a delegation of US lawmakers, met today with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, with whom she “exchanged positions” on some “key” regional and international.

Among them, “relations across the (Formosa) Strait”, that is, between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, the democratic self-governing island that Beijing considers part of its territory and that it does not rule out invading, and that Washington would in principle defend. , although the United States maintains an ambiguous position in this regard.

Pelosi began her tour of Asia in Singapore on Monday, where she will also be on Tuesday, to later travel to Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, according to the White House, although her office has refused to confirm for security reasons whether, as it has been rumored, it will also move to Taiwan.

Pelosi’s would be the first visit to Taiwan by a US House Speaker since 1997, when Republican Newt Gingrich traveled to the island.

THREAT TO CHINA

The Chinese government has made it clear that it perceives the trip as a threat, and the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, warned that the Asian giant “will respond firmly” to what it considers a provocation, and that the US will have to ” assume all the consequences” arising from the possible visit.

In addition to Taiwan, one of the issues that causes the most friction between China and the United States, Pelosi and Lee Hsien Loong discussed the war in Ukraine and climate change in the international arena.

The Prime Minister of Singapore, a country that plays equidistance between China and the United States – strong economic and security partners, respectively – stressed the importance of “a stable relationship between China and the US for peace and security regional”.

COMMITMENT TO THE REGION

Lee also welcomed the “strong commitment” expressed by the US delegation to the region, in the face of China’s growing influence in the area, and both sides discussed ways to deepen US economic influence through initiatives. such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

Launched last May, the IPEF is a new regional cooperation scheme aimed at promoting trade and investment between the US and a dozen countries in the area, bringing together countries that are members of the Quad group (USA, Japan , India and Australia) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Singaporean leader and Lee reaffirmed “the deep and multifaceted collaboration between Singapore and the United States, sustained by robust cooperation in the areas of defence, security and economics”, indicates the text of the Singaporean Foreign Ministry.

Pelosi, who is traveling accompanied by five congressmen, including the head of the Lower House Foreign Committee, Gregory Meeks, also met with the island’s deputy prime minister, Lawrence Wong, called to succeed Lee; the Minister of National Security, Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean and Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam”.

Also, the Democrat had a call with the president of Singapore, Halimah Yacob.

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