(Bloomberg) -- The White House urged China not to escalate tensions with the US in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s expected visit to Taiwan, signaling the Biden administration is girding for Beijing to retaliate.

“Put simply, there is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with long-standing US policy into some sort of crisis or conflict or use it as a pretext to increase aggressive military activity,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a Monday press briefing.

Kirby for the first time detailed possible actions China could take in response to Pelosi’s trip to the self-governing island, including firing missiles into the Taiwan Strait, launching new military operations, crossing an unofficial no-fly zone between Taiwan and the mainland and making “spurious” legal claims about the strait.

Read More: Pelosi Expected to Visit Taiwan, Amping Up US-China Tensions

“We will not take the bait or engage in saber rattling,” Kirby said. “At the same time, we will not be intimidated. We will keep operating in the seas and the skies of the Western Pacific as we have for decades.”

Kirby’s comments mark the most expansive public effort to calm tensions with China since news broke of Pelosi’s plans to visit Taiwan. The Speaker is expected to travel to the island Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter, in defiance of Chinese authorities who have threatened “grave consequences” for US-China relations.

Pelosi’s office has yet to confirm the visit.

Kirby said Beijing had engaged in “irresponsible rhetoric” ahead of Pelosi’s trip and said the US government will ensure the speaker’s safety if she visits Taiwan.

President Joe Biden told Chinese President Xi Jinping in a call last week that “Congress is an independent branch of government and that Speaker Pelosi makes her own decisions,” Kirby said.

Xi warned Biden on the call in the context of Pelosi’s plans that “whoever plays with fire will get burn.”

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Author: Jordan Fabian, Jenny Leonard and Nancy Cook