White House Warns China Not to Overreact

“The White House warned Monday that a potential visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) could prompt China to take significant inflammatory actions in response, and urged Beijing not to take advantage of the trip or see it as a pretext for provocation,” the Washington Post reports.

Said White House spokesman John Kirby: “China appears to be positioning itself to take further steps in the coming days and perhaps over longer time horizons. Nothing about this potential visit — which, oh, by the way, has precedent — would change the status quo.”

New York Times: “With tensions rising along with Ms. Pelosi’s travels across Asia, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the administration was concerned that China would potentially fire missiles into the Taiwan Strait, send warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense zone or stage large-scale naval or air activities that cross the median line in the middle of the strait.”