Pelosi’s Taiwan visit in question; Biden talks to China’s Xi

The dates for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s possible visit to the contested island remain under wraps as President Joe Biden prepares to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. U.S. Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday that discussing specific travel would be premature but the armed forces would support traveling officials who ask for help. Pelosi had planned to visit in April, but the trip was delayed when she contracted COVID. China Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned that Pelosi shouldn’t visit Taiwan, which China claims as its own. If the speaker visits, Zhao said, China will respond in force. Pelosi would be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the island since Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in 1997.

What will Biden and Xi discuss? The two leaders’ Thursday meeting—the first in four months—will fall under the shadow of Pelosi’s proposed visit to Taiwan. The two leaders will also likely discuss matters related to North Korea’s nuclear program, the Iran nuclear deal, and ongoing Trump administration sanctions.

Dig deeper: Read June Cheng’s report from the WORLD archives about the Chinese Communist Party’s violent legacy.