WASHINGTON (AP) — There's no reason for China and the U.S. "to come to blows" should House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visit Taiwan during an Asia trip she is expected to make soon, the White House said Friday, underscoring the international tensions surrounding her travel plans.

The remarks by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby came as Pelosi, D-Calif., offered a rationale for a visit to Asia that she had yet to publicly acknowledge. Kirby was asked Friday if the U.S. has noticed any Chinese military preparations due to her travel plans.

"There's no reason for it to come to that, to come to blows, to come to increased physical tension," Kirby said at the White House. "There's no reason for that because there's been no change in American policy with respect to One China."

Seeming to stop just short of saying she would travel there, Pelosi said, "I'm very excited that should we go to the countries, that you'll be hearing about along the way about the conversations" she would have there.

She noted President Joe Biden's focus on Asia and referenced his recent trip to South Korea and Japan, telling reporters, "He has visited there, his vice president has visited, the secretary of commerce and others. And we want the Congress of the United States to be part of that initiative."

Pelosi and her aides have not confirmed her travel plans or named the countries she might visit, citing security concerns. China considers Taiwan its own territory and has said it might reclaim the island democracy by force.

For more than four decades, the U.S. has followed a "one China" policy in which it recognizes Beijing as the government of China yet maintains informal relations and defense ties with Taiwan.

China has objected strenuously to any Taiwan visit by Pelosi, warning of "resolute and strong measures" if she does.

Biden said earlier this month that the Pentagon thinks a Pelosi trip to Taiwan is "not a good idea right now." Senior defense officials who briefed reporters on Friday declined to discuss any potential preparations for a trip.

Biden has designed his foreign policy in part around countering China's growing economic and military might. Pelosi's itinerary has also become a domestic political issue, with some Republicans urging her to visit Taiwan as a show of standing up to Beijing.

Kirby said Friday that Pelosi "does not need nor nor do we offer approval or disapproval" for travel. And he said, "The speaker is entitled to travel aboard a military aircraft."

The military routinely supplies aircraft for travel by lawmakers, which presidents have the rarely used authority to deny. In a highly unusual move, then-President Donald Trump blocked Pelosi and other lawmakers from using a military plane to visit Afghanistan during a 2019 battle over a government shutdown and after she told him to delay his State of the Union address.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's flight to Taiwan, which bolstered American support for the island nation but angered China, was the single most heavily tracked flight in the history of the online flight tracking site Flightradar24.The website, which uses a network of receivers to track planes' location and speed, said Wednesday that more than 708,000 people across the globe were tracking the flight when it landed in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei. And more than 2.9 million people tracked at least a portion of the flight amid uncertainty about whether Pelosi would follow through on her pledge to visit the island nation, whose independence is not recognized by China.Though the stop in Taiwan was not part of Pelosi's official schedule for her tour of Asia, a Taiwanese and U.S. official confirmed to CNN on Monday that she would be making the stop off. The decision came amid warnings from Biden administration officials, who raised concerns about how China would respond.Pelosi, whose visit to Taiwan was the first of its kind in 25 years, said she intended the trip to make it "unequivocally clear" that the United States would "not abandon" the democratically governed island. She was greeted by Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, in a televised meeting. She thanked Pelosi for visiting and praised her commitment to democracy and bestowed on her Taiwan's highest civilian honor.Beijing warned that Pelosi's trip would have a "severe impact on the political foundation of China-U.S. relations" and responded with a series of military exercises that began on Tuesday.Pelosi traveled from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, to Taipei aboard a Boeing C-40C jet (a military version of the Boeing 737 jetliner) operated by the US Air Force, according to the flight tracker. The flight flew under the call sign "SPAR19."Flightradar24, which started as a passion project by two aviation enthusiasts, said in a blog post that traffic on its website became so intense that it nearly brought down the tracker, and it was forced to limit access to the site for non-subscribers by implementing a waiting room feature."An unprecedented, sustained interest in this particular flight led to extremely heavy load on Flightradar24 infrastructure. Our teams immediately began efforts to maintain the stability of our services. Unfortunately, due to the volume of users, it was necessary to deploy our waiting room functionality, which meters access to Flightradar24 for non-subscribers."Shortly after Pelosi's flight landed, the company was able to restore normal access for all users.

Video above: Analysis: High stakes, modest gains as Biden-Xi talk

China's military sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the island, Taiwan's defense ministry said Monday, after China expressed anger at Taiwan-related provisions in a U.S. annual defense spending bill passed on Saturday.

China's military harassment of self-ruled Taiwan, which it claims is its own territory, has intensified in recent years, and the Communist Party's People's Liberation Army has sent planes or ships toward the island on a near-daily basis.

Between 6 a.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday, 47 of the Chinese planes crossed the median of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary once tacitly accepted by both sides, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense.

Among the planes China sent towards Taiwan were 18 J-16 fighter jets, 11 J-1 fighters, 6 Su-30 fighters and drones.

Taiwan said it monitored the Chinese moves through its land-based missile systems, as well as on its own navy vessels.

"This is a firm response to the current US-Taiwan escalation and provocation," said Shi Yi, the spokesman for the PLA's Eastern Theater Command, in a statement on Sunday night. It announced that the PLA was holding joint combat patrols and joint strike drills in the waters around Taiwan.

Shi was referring to the U.S. defense spending bill, which calls China a strategic challenge. With regard to the Indo-Pacific region, the legislation authorizes increased security cooperation with Taiwan and requires expanded cooperation with India on emerging defense technologies, readiness and logistics.

China's military has often used large military exercises as a demonstration of force in response to U.S. government actions in support of Taiwan. It conducted large live-fire military exercises in August in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Beijing views visits from foreign governments to the island as de facto recognition of the island as independent and a challenge to China's claim of sovereignty.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. —

Risking China's anger, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday as a “great friend of America" in a fraught show of U.S. support at a rare high-level, bipartisan meeting on U.S. soil.

Speaking carefully to avoid unnecessarily escalating tensions with Beijing, Tsai and McCarthy steered clear of calls from hard-liners in the U.S. for a more confrontational stance toward China in defense of self-ruled Taiwan.

Instead, the two leaders stood side by side in a show of unity at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, acknowledging China's threats against the island government but speaking only of maintaining longstanding U.S. policy.

“America’s support for the people of Taiwan will remain resolute, unwavering and bipartisan,” McCarthy said at a news conference later.

Video below: Speaker Kevin McCarthy says U.S.-Taiwan relations have "never been stronger in my lifetime"

McCarthy evoked Reagan's peace-through-strength approach to foreign relations and emphasized “this is a bipartisan meeting of members of Congress,” not any one political party. He said U.S.-Taiwan ties are stronger than at any other point in his life.

He and Tsai spoke to reporters with Reagan's Air Force One as a backdrop.

She said the “unwavering support reassures the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated."

Still, the formal trappings of the meeting, and the senior rank of some of the elected officials in the delegation from Congress, threatened to run afoul of China’s position that any interaction between U.S. and Taiwanese officials is a challenge to China’s claim of sovereignty over the island.

More than a dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including the House's third-ranking Democrat, joined Republican McCarthy for the daylong talks.

During a private session they spoke of the importance of Taiwan’s self-defense, of fostering robust trade and economic ties and supporting the island government’s ability to participate in the international community, Tsai said.

They made no mention of calls from hard-liners in and out of Congress for a greater U.S. commitment to Taiwan’s defense if China should attack.

Tsai said she stressed to lawmakers Taiwan’s commitment “to defending the peaceful status quo where the people in Taiwan may continue to thrive in a free and open society.”

But she also warned, “It is no secret that today the peace that we have maintained and the democracy which have worked hard to build are facing unprecedented challenges."

“We once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat and the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be understated.”

The United States broke off official ties with Taiwan in 1979 while formally establishing diplomatic relations with the Beijing government. The U.S. acknowledges a "one-China" policy in which Beijing lays claim to Taiwan, but it does not endorse China's claim to the island and remains Taiwan's key provider of military and defense assistance.

For Tsai, it was the most sensitive stop on a weeklong journey meant to shore up alliances with the U.S. and Central America. The U.S. House speaker is second in line of succession to the president. No speaker is known to have met with a Taiwan president on U.S. soil since the U.S. broke off formal diplomatic relations.

Chinese officials have pledged a sharp but unspecified response to the meeting with McCarthy.

Later Wednesday, China said it “firmly opposes and strongly condemns” Tsai’s visit, in a statement by China's official Xinhua News Agency.

China will take “resolute and forceful measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement said, citing an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesperson. It urged the U.S. “not to walk further down the wrong and dangerous road.”

Video below: China threatens retaliation as Taiwan president meets with U.S. House Speaker

There was no sign of a large-scale military response as of Thursday morning as China had done previously.

Chinese vessels were engaged in a joint patrol and inspection operation in the Taiwan Strait that will last three days, state media said Thursday morning. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday evening it had tracked the China’s Shandong aircraft carrier passing through the Bashi Strait, to Taiwan’s southeast.

The Biden administration insists there is nothing provocative about this visit by Tsai, which is the latest of a half-dozen.

"Beijing should not use the transits as an excuse to take any actions, to ratchet up tensions, to further push at changing the status quo," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Wednesday during travel in Europe.

The Taiwan president's visit to America comes as China, the U.S. and its allies are strengthening their military positions and readiness for any confrontation between the two sides, with Taiwan and its claim to sovereignty a main flashpoint.

Confrontation between the U.S. and China, a rising power increasingly seeking to assert its influence abroad under President Xi Jinping, surged with Pelosi's visit and again this winter with the cross-U.S. journey of what the U.S. says was a Chinese spy balloon.

Democratic Rep. Pelosi said in a statement, "Today’s meeting between President Tsai of Taiwan and Speaker McCarthy is to be commended for its leadership, its bipartisan participation and its distinguished and historic venue.”

Video below: Taiwan President Tsai says 'relationship with U.S. has never been closer'

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war and have no official relations, although they are linked by billions of dollars in trade and investment.

For their part, Taiwanese officials in the United States – and Taiwanese presidents on a succession of visits – aim for a delicate balance of maintaining warm relations with their powerful American allies, without overstepping their in-between status in the U.S, or unnecessarily provoking China.

To that end, no Taiwanese flag flies over the former Taiwan Embassy in Washington. Taiwanese presidents call their stops in the U.S. “transits” rather than visits, and they steer clear of Washington.

McCarthy, the newly elected House speaker, is making an early foray into foreign policy.

Joining him for the meeting were the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on a new House Select Committee on China, along with the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee that handles tax policy important to Taiwan, among others.

Seated to McCarthy’s right was the third-ranking House Democrat, Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, who spoke of the long history of U.S.-Taiwan cooperation and an “overwhelming bipartisan commitment” in Congress, working with the Biden administration, to strengthen the relationship.

___

Mascaro and Knickmeyer reported from Washington. AP writers Nomaan Merchant and Fu Ting in Washington, Huizhong Wu in Taipei and Matthew Lee in Brussels contributed.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — When you look at a map of the world, you see lines and borders.

Some are created by water, others by man, and, often, by war.

If this week has taught anyone anything, it's that just because a country's borders are drawn a certain way, it doesn't mean they will stay that way.

WEST CONDEMNS RUSSIA

"This aggression cannot go unanswered," President Joe Biden said this week from the White House.

While the President and other world leaders are hoping severe sanctions force Russia to restore the borders in Europe to where they were at the start of the week, the reality is Russia has been interested in re-drawing Ukraine for years.

After all, Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union.

In 2014, Russia took Crimea, a part of Ukraine.

This week began with Russia sending troops to the Donbas region.

Now, the Russian military is spread throughout the country. Many military experts agree that Ukraine could fall completely since they are not equipped to fight Russia on their own.

THE WORLD IS WATCHING

A looming question is whether the invasion inspires other world leaders to do the same thing.

It’s something being watched closely in Washington.

For example, China has long wanted to claim Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, as their own.

North Korea has long had an interest in neighboring South Korea.

Iran has also expressed interest in land around the Middle East.

President Biden's statements about war could also lead to more tensions.

He has been very clear he doesn’t want American service members fighting in Ukraine. Last year, he made clear he didn’t want Americans fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

BIDEN'S APPROACH

President Biden does believe that severe economic penalties, like the ones he has imposed on Russia, are enough to end conflicts and prevent future ones.

"America stands up to bullies,” Biden said Thursday.

He also isn't completely opposed to military action, deploying thousands of American troops to eastern Europe who are prepared to fight should the war extend beyond Ukraine's borders.

BANGKOK —

With increasingly strong talk in support of Taiwan, a new deal to supply Australia with nuclear submarines, and the launch of a European strategy for greater engagement in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. and its allies are becoming growingly assertive in their approach toward a rising China.

China has bristled at the moves, and the growing tensions between Beijing and Washington prompted U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the weekend to implore President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to repair their "completely dysfunctional" relationship, warning they risk dividing the world.

As the U.N. General Assembly opened Tuesday, both leaders chose calming language, with Biden insisting "we are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs," and Xi telling the forum that "China has never, and will never invade or bully others or seek hegemony."

But the underlying issues have not changed, with China building up its military outposts as it presses its maritime claims over critical sea lanes, and the U.S. and its allies growing louder in their support of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, and deepening military cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

On Friday, Biden hosts the leaders of Japan, India and Australia for an in-person Quadrilateral Security Dialogue for broad talks including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, but also how to keep the Indo-Pacific, a vast region spanning from India to Australia, "free and open," according to the White House.

It comes a week after the dramatic announcement that Australia would be dropping a contract for conventional French submarines in favor of an Anglo-American offer for nuclear-powered vessels, a bombshell that overshadowed the unveiling of the European Union's strategy to boost political and defense ties in the Indo-Pacific.

"One thing is certain, that everyone is pivoting toward the Indo-Pacific," said Garima Mohan, an Asia program fellow with the German Marshall Fund think tank.

As partners pursue moves that play to their own strengths and needs, however, the past week has underscored the lack of coordination as a networked security strategy develops, she said.

"Not everyone has the same threat assessment of China," she said in a telephone interview from Berlin.

The EU policy emphasizes the need for dialogue with Beijing, to encourage "China to play its part in a peaceful and thriving Indo-Pacific region," while at the same time proposing an "enhanced naval presence" and expanded security cooperation with regional partners.

It also notes China's increased military buildup, and that "the display of force and increasing tensions in regional hotspots such as in the South and East China Sea, and in the Taiwan Strait, may have a direct impact on European security and prosperity."

Germany, which has close economic ties to China, got a wake-up call last week when China rejected its request for a port call for the frigate Bavaria, which is currently conducting maneuvers in the Indo-Pacific.

"China is telling them this inclusive approach is not going to work, so in a way it's a rude awakening for Berlin," Mohan said. "You have to take a position, you can't have your cake and eat it too, and if you have an Indo-Pacific strategy ... you can't make it neutral."

Other EU countries, most notably France, have also sent naval assets for exercises in the Indo-Pacific, and Britain has had a whole carrier strike group conducting exercises for several months as London pursues the new tilt toward the region recommended by a recent British government review of defense and foreign policy.

China's Foreign Ministry said after rejecting the Bavaria's port call that it remained "willing to carry out friendly exchanges with Germany on the basis of mutual respect and mutual trust," but made clear it was displeased with the increased naval presence in the region.

"Individual powers... have repeatedly dispatched military aircraft and warships to the South China Sea for some time in the name of exercising freedom of navigation to flex muscle, stir up trouble and deliberately provoke conflicts on maritime issues," spokesman Zhao Lijian said. "China's determination to safeguard national and territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests is unwavering, and will continue to properly handle differences with the countries concerned through consultations and negotiations."

Beijing was less reserved in its reaction to the submarine deal with Australia, under which the U.S. and Britain will help Canberra construct nuclear-powered submarines, calling it "highly irresponsible" and saying it would "seriously damage regional peace and stability."

In signing the pact with the U.S. and Britain, Australia canceled a $66 billion deal with France for diesel-powered submarines, infuriating Paris, which recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Canberra and suggested it calls into question the entire cooperative effort to blunt China's growing influence.

While clearly irked by the surprise deal, many observers have suggested that the vociferous reaction from France may be more directed toward a domestic audience, where President Emmanuel Macron faces a reelection bid early next year.

But there was clear disappointment that the U.S. seemed to be ignoring France's own engagement in the region by not informing them in advance, said Laurence Nardon, an expert at the French Institute for International Relations.

"There was a way to do this while keeping Europeans in the loop," she said. "The Indo-Pacific is important for the EU too; it's not one or the other."

In a call with Macron late Wednesday, Biden reaffirmed "the strategic importance of French and European engagement in the Indo-Pacific region," according to a joint statement.

More than just a decision to pursue nuclear submarines, the deal was a clear signal of Australia committing long term to being in the U.S. camp on China policy, said Euan Graham, an expert with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore.

The submarine deal seems likely to exacerbate the ongoing trade war between China and Australia, and Australia is hoping to strike a free trade deal with Quad partner India to help offset the economic impact.

While the European strategy outline will take time, the plan provides clarity in how the EU is prepared to work with the U.S. and its allies in the region — something that has been lacking in the past.

"There's a lack of understanding on the U.S. side of why Europe is interested in the Indo-Pacific and exactly what kind of role it wants to play," Mohan said in a podcast on the issue. "There's also a lack of understanding of the U.S. approach."

In the outline of the strategy, the EU broadly looks to pool its resources for greater effect, and to work more closely with the Quad countries, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and others.

It also envisions enhancing current operations, such as the Atalanta anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa and in the western Indian Ocean, and the expansion of the EU maritime security and safety mission in the wider Indian Ocean area, which has already been broadened to Southeast Asia.

"The European assessment is very realistic about what they can and cannot do in the region," Mohan said. "It's about making sure the resources, the spending, that's done right and has an impact."

Prosecutors in Taiwan said Saturday they questioned the owner of an unmanned truck that rolled onto a rail track and caused the country's worst train disaster in decades that killed 51 people and injured 146, though no charges have been filed.

The train was carrying 494 people at the start of a long holiday weekend on Friday when it smashed into the construction truck that slid down a hillside above the tracks, the Taiwan Railways Administration said. Many passengers were crushed just before the train entered a tunnel, while some survivors were forced to climb out of windows and walk along the train's roof to safety.

The truck's emergency brake was not properly engaged, according to the government's disaster relief center.

The district prosecutor's office in eastern Hualien County, where the train derailed, confirmed it had interviewed the truck owner, among others, but was not ready to file charges. Prosecutorial staff were visiting a mortuary Saturday to examine the bodies, office spokeswoman Chou Fang-yi said.

President Tsai Ing-wen was due to visit the site later Saturday.

"We have asked the Transportation Safety Committee to conduct a strict investigation of the accident, and after fully clarifying the cause of the accident, we will explain it to everyone," Tsai told reporters Friday.

"We're asking passengers to forgive us for any delays," she said.

Transportation Minister Lin Chia-lung said repairs will be accelerated.

"When such a thing happens, I feel very sorry and I will take full responsibility," Lin said after touring the site.

Taiwan Railways Administration chief Chi Wen-chung said his team had successfully removed the first derailed carriage out of the site.

Two large construction cranes could be seen drawn up next to the train, as workers examined and removed some parts in a remote wooded cliff area on the island's east coast.

Repair work also was underway on the tracks including the tunnel where part of the eight-car train crashed. The operation should be done within a week, said Weng Hui-ping, head of the railway administration's news group. During the repairs, all east coast trains will run on a track parallel to the one damaged in the accident, causing delays of 15 to 20 minutes, he said.

The National Fire Service confirmed the death toll — which included the train's young, newly married driver and the assistant driver — and said more than 100 people were injured. The government's disaster response center said it was the worst rail disaster in 73 years.

Train travel is popular during Taiwan's four-day Tomb Sweeping holiday, when families often return to hometowns to pay respects at the gravesites of their elders.

Taiwan is a mountainous island, and most of its 24 million people live in the flatlands along the northern and western coasts that are home to most of the island's farmland, biggest cities and high-tech industries. The lightly populated east where the crash happened is popular with tourists, many of whom travel there by train to avoid mountain roads.

___

Jennings reported from Taipei, Taiwan.

A political spat between China and Taiwan could further threaten the global supply of computer chips amid a shortage that's leading to manufacturing delays.

Taiwan is home to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest maker of computer chips and semiconductors. However, the country is currently seeing record high numbers of COVID-19 cases, and his struggling to get its hands on vaccines.

According to Bloomberg and Reuters, Taiwan's health minister has accused China of scuttling a deal that the country had to purchase 5 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine directly from BioNTech. Instead, China wanted Taiwan to purchase vaccines from a Chinese company that had exclusive rights to produce the Pfizer vaccine in the country.

China claims Taiwan is playing political games and is putting the lives of its own citizens at risk by holding out.

According to Bloomberg, only about 1% of Taiwan has been vaccinated so far, and its current vaccine supply is dwindling fast.

The dispute is just the latest salvo in the rising tensions between Taiwan and China. Taiwan has been a part of China since 1949, but China has allowed the island to have its own government for decades with the hope of one day formally unifying the island with the mainland.

For months, a global shortage of semiconductors has forced manufacturing delays on everything from electronics to cars. In fact, because the average new automobile requires dozens of computer chips, companies like Ford have been forced to extend downtime at plants.

In some parts of the country, including near Cincinnati, large parking lots are full of newly-completed cars and trucks awaiting computer chips.

In April, GM President Mark Reuss called the computer chip shortage "probably the worst crisis I've seen in the auto industry."

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden called for increased domestic manufacturing of semiconductors so that the U.S. would be less prone to shortages in the future.

"Never again should we be faced with the situation we face today with the semiconductor shortage," Biden said.