White House pushes back on claims China influencing US' Taiwan policy, Pelosi trip
Kirby also responded to questions about Russian-held U.S. nationals.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While no official announcement of a trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been made, the White House pushed back on allegations an incensed Chinese Communist Party is influencing whether they would support such a delegation.
Pelosi reportedly invited at least one Republican on the purported venture, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, which would make it a bipartisan trip.
Retired Rear Adm. John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told "The Story" on Wednesday that China's overtures have not changed their relatively ambivalent stance on the trip – pushing back on reporting the Pentagon is trying to discourage her from visiting Taipei.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We would certainly not talk about her travel in advance of it. That's really for her to speak to," Kirby said.
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)
"What we're focused on here, whenever she goes, wherever she goes, particularly in overseas travel, we just want to make sure that that national security team, which does include of course of the Department of Defense, provides her with the facts, the analysis, the context that she needs to make the best decisions that she can."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When pressed by anchor Martha MacCallum on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's recent comments on Pelosi's trip combined with the Xi regime's objections, Kirby denied the Biden administration is allowing China to "back us into a corner."
"Again, Martha, you're getting ahead of decisions that haven't been made yet here. There's been no announcement by the speaker [regarding] travel to Taiwan. So I'm not going to hypothesize or speculate about that," he said.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}John Kirby holds a news briefing at the Pentagon (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
"Let me just back up here and make it clear that nothing has changed about our adherence to the One-China policy. Nothing has changed about our commitment to help Taiwan defend itself. And nothing has changed about our view that the status quo across the strait should not be changed unilaterally - and certainly not by force."
Kirby pivoted to China's objection itself, calling the Xi regime's rhetoric "unhelpful and unnecessary," ahead of a planned meeting between Biden and the Chinese president in the near future.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks during a news conference. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
He added that Austin alluded to Sino-American diplomacy being a consequential relationship, while noting there are some issues of stark disagreement like trade practices and Xi's "aggressive behavior" in the Indo-Pacific region.
Kirby later spoke to a reported "substantial proposal" offered to Russia by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in hopes of securing the release of Canadian-American security professional Paul Whelan and WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We sure hope that the Russians will accept this proposal, and that we can get these Americans back home to their families where they belong," he said.