AP
Kuala Lumpur, August 1
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Singapore early on Monday, kicking off her Asian tour as questions swirled over a possible stop in Taiwan that has fuelled tension with Beijing.
A person familiar with the matter confirmed that Pelosi and her delegation landed in the city-state before dawn. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release details to the media.
Pelosi will call on Singapore President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and meet with a number of Cabinet ministers, said a spokesperson for Singapore’s foreign ministry.
She is also expected to attend a cocktail reception with the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. There is no media access to her visit, which has been kept under tight wraps.
In a statement over the weekend, Pelosi said she will also visit Malaysia, South Korea and Japan to discuss trade, the covid pandemic, climate change, security and “democratic governance.”
She didn’t confirm news reports that she might visit Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing as its own territory. Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against meddling in Beijing’s dealings with the island in a phone call last week with his American counterpart, Joe Biden.
Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make its decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step US leaders say they don’t support.
Pelosi, head of one of three branches of the US government, would be the highest-ranking elected American official to visit Taiwan since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997.
The Biden administration has tried to assure Beijing there was no reason to “come to blows” and that if such a visit occurred, it would signal no change in US policy.
A visit to Taiwan would be a career capstone for Pelosi, who increasingly uses her position in Congress as a US emissary on the global stage. She has long challenged China on human rights and wanted to visit Taiwan earlier this year.
