Biden and Pelosi at Odds Over Taiwan Trip

President Joe Biden said this week the U.S. military does not support a potential trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a concern she brushed off, bringing the difference of opinion into public view between the nation’s two highest-ranking Democratic officeholders.

The Financial Times reported on Pelosi’s planned trip, but her office said it does not typically confirm or deny her international travel ahead of time, citing security concerns. However, it does not appear the Biden administration supports such a trip.

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On Wednesday, after being asked by a reporter whether he thinks it is a good idea for Pelosi to travel to Taiwan this summer, Biden replied, “I think that — the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now, but I don’t know what the status of it is.”

Biden and Pelosi are usually on the same page politically in public. That includes strategizing on moving the Biden administration’s agenda forward, even amid the president’s falling approval ratings. But some of the more hard-left Democrats in Pelosi’s caucus have expressed frustration at the administration for moving too slow on topics such as climate change and forgiving student loan debt, even though Democrats hold the slimmest of majorities in the House and Senate.

At her weekly press conference on Thursday, Pelosi would not confirm whether a Taiwan trip would take place, citing security concerns for her travel. Pelosi is second in line to the presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris and travels with security provided by the Capitol Police.

“You never even hear me say if I’m going to London because it is a security issue,” she said, alluding to security concerns posed by a potential trip to Taiwan if China decided to retaliate.

“I think what the president was saying is that maybe the military was afraid that our plane would get shot down, or something like that, by the Chinese,” she said. “I don’t know exactly. I didn’t see it. I didn’t hear it.”

“You’re telling me and I heard it anecdotally,” she said. “But I haven’t heard it from the president.”

China considers Taiwan its territory, a source of constant friction between Beijing and Washington, given America’s position of support for the democratically controlled island.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said this week that Beijing opposes all forms of official interaction between the United States and Taiwan, and Pelosi should not travel there.

“If the United States insists on having its own way, China will take strong measures in response to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. All possible consequences that arise from this will completely be borne by the U.S. side,” he said, according to Reuters.

Zhao did not specify what such measures would entail.

Pelosi has been a longtime vocal critic of China, even since the beginning of her congressional career, before she was in House leadership. Her San Francisco district includes one of the largest Chinese expatriate communities, which generally does not support the country’s communist regime.

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If Pelosi goes through with a trip to Taiwan, it would not be the first time she has bucked the White House’s opposition to a foreign trip. Pelosi met Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2007 against the wishes of President George W. Bush’s administration, which was seeking to isolate the country. A similar potential departure from the wishes of the Biden White House would be more politically notable, however, since the two belong to the same party.