BEIJING (Dispatches) -- China said Tuesday that the United States will “pay the price” if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan during her Asia trip.
Pelosi was in Malaysia on Tuesday, the second stop in a tour that has sparked rage in Beijing after reports of a potential Taipei visit.
China considers Taiwan its territory and has indicated through repeated warnings that it would view a Pelosi visit as a major provocation.
“The U.S. side will bear the responsibility and pay the price for undermining China’s sovereign security interests,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
Reports of her plans have sent U.S.-China tensions soaring.
In a call with U.S. President Joe Biden last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the United States against “playing with fire” on Taiwan.
And China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Hun, said Monday that such a visit would be “very much dangerous, very much provocative”.
While the Biden administration is understood to be opposed to a Taiwan stop, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Pelosi was entitled to go where she pleased.
“The speaker has the right to visit Taiwan,” he told reporters.
Pelosi arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday for meetings with the prime minister and the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported.
After Singapore and Malaysia, her itinerary includes stops in South Korea and Japan -- but the prospect of a Taiwan trip has dominated attention. Taipei has remained silent on the prospect of a Pelosi visit.
Russia backed China on Tuesday over the expected visit, warning Washington that such a provocative trip would put the United States on a collision course with Beijing.
“We cannot say for sure right now whether she will or will not get there, but everything about this tour and the possible visit to Taiwan is purely provocative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the expected visit was a provocative attempt by Washington to pile pressure on China - with whom Russia has forged a strong partnership in recent years.
“The USA is a state provocateur,” she said. “Russia confirms the principle of “one China” and opposes the independence of the island in any form.”