Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has some advice for current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the face of escalating threats from the Chinese over Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan: stick to your guns.
“I feel very strongly that Speaker Pelosi should go to Taiwan and that she should take a bipartisan congressional delegation,” Gingrich said at the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit on Monday. “I can say this with some authority. I am the highest-ranking American official ever to visit Taiwan. In 1997, I led a delegation, and John Dingell, the senior Democrat, was on the delegation. It was a truly bipartisan group.”
“If the U.S. side is bent on going its own way, China will take strong measures to resolutely respond and counteract,” a Chinese government official said in response to the news of Pelosi’s trip.
“I saw some article this morning that the Defense Department is very worried that Speaker Pelosi will somehow cause a problem if she goes to Taiwan,” Gingrich said in his speech. “Well, my first suggestion is this: If the Department of Defense is not certain that it can protect an American Speaker of the House in a public visit, why would we think they could protect Taiwan? And if you’re the Chinese Communists, and you watch us flinch after the total mess in Afghanistan, the total mess in Ukraine, you begin to think this is an administration that’s just begging to be bullied.”
“And so I commend Nancy; we have enormous disagreements on 98 or 99% of things, but on this one, I think her instinct is right. I hope she sticks to her guns. And the only thing I would suggest is that she make it a bipartisan congressional delegation to show that both parties are committed to the independence of Taiwan.”
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Gingrich: Pelosi should go through with Taiwan trip, take bipartisan delegation | Just The News https://t.co/nRC247TjC4
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) July 26, 2022