US says Pelosi’s Taiwan trip ‘no reason’ for China to escalate tensions

The Biden administration strongly defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on Tuesday amid China’s ongoing fiery response, saying the trip is consistent with longstanding US policy and is “no reason” for Beijing to further escalate tensions. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Chinese response thus far has been “unfortunately right in line with what we had anticipated,” noting Washington expects China to be preparing to “react over a longer-term horizon.” Some of the actions the US is preparing for China to take include additional large-scale military exercises, carrying out flights across the sensitive median…