China warns US will 'pay the price' if Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan

Beijing, Aug 02: China on Tuesday warned the United States that it will "pay the price" if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan during her Asia trip.

Pelosi is likely to visit Taiwan Tuesday evening, as per reports. She is going to Taiwan for meetings scheduled with top government officials at the self-governed island that China calls its own and vows to forcefully takeover.

Beijing views Pelosi's visit as a provocation and has issued increasingly severe warnings that have not ruled out a military response. "What I can tell you is, the US will definitely have to bear responsibility and pay the price for harming China's sovereignty and security interests," foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told a press briefing in Beijing adding that China will take "firm and powerful" measures in response.

"If the US misjudges or handles the situation across the Taiwan Strait incorrectly, it will have catastrophic consequences for the security, prosperity and order of the Taiwan region and the world at large," she said as quoted by The Strait Times.

She was in Malaysia on Tuesday, the second stop in a tour that has sparked rage in Beijing after reports of a potential Taipei visit.

It was unclear where she was headed from Malaysia, but local media in Taiwan reported that she would arrive on Tuesday night, becoming the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to visit in more than 25 years.

The United Daily News, Liberty Times and China Times - Taiwan's three largest national newspapers - cited unidentified sources as saying she would spend the night in Taiwan. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

On the other hand, the White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby underscored that the decision on whether to visit Taiwan was ultimately Pelosi's. He noted that members of Congress have routinely visited the island over the years.

"Put simply, there is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with long-standing U.S. policy into some sort of crisis or use it as a pretext to increase aggressive military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait," Kirby said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also urged China to "act responsibly" if Pelosi proceeds with the visit. "If the speaker does decide to visit, and China tries to create some kind of a crisis or otherwise escalate tensions, that would be entirely on Beijing," he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.