US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during a meeting. File photo

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading a Congressional delegation to the Indo-Pacific region, including visits to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan," her office said in a press release.

The release said the visit would include those countries, but did not specify whether Pelosi, who is number 3 in the line of presidential succession, might make other stops.

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"The trip will focus on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance in the Indo-Pacific region," it said.

Gregory Meeks, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was among the delegation listed.

China views visits by U.S. officials to Taiwan as sending an encouraging signal to the pro-independence camp in the island. Washington does not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

President Xi Jinping warned his US counterpart Joe Biden on Thursday that Washington should abide by the one-China principle and "those who play with fire will perish by it."

Biden told Xi US policy on Taiwan had not changed and that Washington strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

Agence France-Presse