Pelosi’s office announced that a congressional delegation led by the President left Sunday for Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. The statement did not confirm if or when Pelosi would follow through on her plans to also visit Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims is an inalienable part of its sovereign territory. The purpose of the trip, which has further strained fragile China-US ties, is to “reaffirm America’s strong and unwavering commitment to our allies and friends in the region,” Pelosi’s office said. The six-member delegation includes the heads of the House’s foreign affairs and armed services committees. The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore said it will hold an in-person event with Pelosi on Monday afternoon. Last week, during their first video call since March, Xi Jinping told Joe Biden that the US was “playing with fire” by not stopping such visits by US delegations, which the Chinese government sees as “interference by foreign powers” in its internal affairs. affairs. . In a post on Chinese social media on Saturday, Hu Xijin, an outspoken former state media editor, said “it’s okay [for the People’s Liberation Army] to shoot down Pelosi’s plane” if escorted to Taiwan by US fighter jets.

In an earlier post on Twitter, the former head of a tabloid published by the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper group said China should “punish” Pelosi if she does not cancel her planned visit to Taiwan. “[The] The PLA Air Force will certainly make her visit an embarrassment to itself and the US,” Hu added. “Pelosi is one of the most important national leaders in the US,” said Lu Xiang, an American expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. “For people in her position, every move has consequences. If he visits Taiwan without China’s consent, there will be serious consequences, including military consequences.” In a demonstration of its capabilities, the PLA held live-fire drills on Saturday in Pingtan, a coastal region in southeastern Fujian province, about 125 kilometers from Taiwan. State media also broadcast footage of a Chinese destroyer firing its guns in the South China Sea, which the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier group is believed to have sailed through after visiting Singapore. China’s Maritime Security Administration has warned ships that the PLA will conduct more live-fire drills in another area of ​​the South China Sea on August 2 and 3. Additional reporting by Xinning Liu and Maiqi Ding in Beijing