U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a potential visit of the House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan would be entirely her decision, but called on China "not to escalate tensions in the event of a visit."

"If the speaker does decide to visit and China tries to create some kind of crisis or otherwise escalate tensions, that would be entirely on Beijing," Blinken said.

 "We are looking for them (China) - in the event she decides to visit - to act responsibly and not to engage in any escalation going forward," he said.