The Washington Post reveals the scenes before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan

The Washington Post revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping asked his American counterpart Joe Biden to find a way to prevent US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from visiting Taiwan, and that this visit put Biden in a difficult position.

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newspaper said that a senior White House official, who asked not to be named, described the Chinese president's request, in a highly sensitive call with Biden on July 28, that it followed countless warnings from Chinese officials to their American counterparts of Beijing's possible response. .

The White House official added that Biden told Xi that he could not compel or prevent Pelosi, explaining that Congress is an independent authority within the country and that Pelosi will make its own decisions regarding foreign trips, adding that Biden also warned Xi against taking provocative and coercive measures if Pelosi was to travel to Taiwan.

American fears

The Washington Post commented that senior US officials, even as they defended Pelosi's right to visit, expressed deep concerns about the trip, and said that the United States had noticed over the past few months indications that China was considering unprecedented military activity across the Taiwan Strait, and officials saw evidence of Beijing will use Pelosi's visit as an excuse to act.

US officials have also expressed concern about the timing of Pelosi's visit, which will come shortly before Xi seeks to secure his third term in power, and the geopolitical ramifications that could follow.

Although the Department of Defense, the US Indo-Pacific Command, and White House national security officials identified the risks, Pelosi embarked on the journey that led to an unprecedented military response from China, including launching missiles into and over the waters around and over Taiwan. Japan's exclusive economic zone - and military exercises crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait.

Pelosi's defense of her visit

However, Pelosi was unimpressed by the arguments of White House officials, defending her trip as necessary to show her support for Taiwan, democracy over authoritarianism, and responded to critics who said she was focused on her legacy.

"Support to prevent the isolation of Taiwan and maintain the status quo is bipartisan and bicameral," Pelosi said in a statement to the newspaper.

She added that any attack on her personally was not related to the president but to some "little unknown" voices within the administration who had endangered the security of her visit by leaking the trip even before deciding she would actually visit Taiwan, warning that these voices could not be allowed to cause any division between The White House and Congress around Taiwan.

White House officials denied sharing to the media details about the trip, and several officials said they found the pre-flight publicity unhelpful, especially since they were in private conversations with the spokesperson at the time about potential risks and did not want information about her visit.

Beijing is not convinced

The report said Chinese officials made it clear that they viewed Pelosi's visit as an unprecedented provocation and viewed it as a US attempt to undermine the one-China policy, a long-standing agreement in which the US recognizes Beijing's claim that there is only one China.

While Biden and other White House officials stressed to Beijing that Congress is a separate branch of government and that the trip was not state-sponsored, Chinese officials considered Pelosi - a member of Biden's political party and third in line for the presidency - to be part of Biden's political apparatus.

They also pointed out that the Speaker of the House of Representatives traveled on US military planes, which would not have been possible without the administration's approval.

hard situation

The Washington Post said that Biden - who served 36 years in the Senate and strongly believes in the separation of powers - Pelosi's visit to Beijing put him in a difficult position.

Experts said that if Pelosi was declared unwilling to visit, it would risk making Biden and the United States look weak toward China.

In the end, the US president never spoke to the speaker of the House of Representatives about her trip, despite Xi's request to prevent it from happening.

However, in an impromptu comment, Biden told reporters shortly before this expected visit that military officials believed the trip was not a good idea.