The U.S. Congressional spokeswoman and number three in administration could land on the island this Tuesday with a House delegation
For the first time since 1997, the second person in the line of succession to the White House will land in Taiwan this Tuesday, at a time of maximum tension. China threatens reprisals if that happens. On Saturday, it conducted intimidating maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait as the Pentagon approaches its ships. What need is there to create another conflict?
Everyone agrees on that. Where the parties differ is whose fault it is. Congressional spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi had already planned this Asian tour for last April, when the covid illness forced her to postpone it. Many believe his biggest mistake was announcing it, rather than just landing by surprise. From there, the US and China are stuck in a dead end, where any concession will be seen as a sign of weakness.
On Thursday, President Xi Jinping took to the screen to speak virtually with Joe Biden during his presidency’s fifth call. The point was to explain to him what that visit would mean for China and to warn him that he would take “strong measures” if Pelosi and her congressional delegation set foot on the island. It would be like “playing with fire,” he warned. The conversation lasted almost two and a half hours.
China is preparing to interpret the visit of a senior US administration official as “a unilateral change” in the “One China” policy that established President Richard Nixon’s status quo of “strategic ambiguity” regarding Taiwan. That enabled him to restore relations with the Asian giant, which accepted the US position to support Taiwan without recognizing an independence that even the UN has not established.
Xi made things very clear to Biden, but he forgot about the sacred separation of powers in American democracy. A traditional politician who has spent his life in the Senate, Biden respects Congressional independence and also knows that Pelosi cannot afford an image of weakness towards China in an election year by avoiding the strike, under pressure from the communist government. The San Francisco congresswoman is renewing her position in November, in a district where more than 32% of the population is Asian.
In California, politics with Taiwan is not something exotic and alien, but the reality that divides many families. Just in May, a Taiwanese man of Chinese descent opened fire in the auditorium of a church in Laguna Woods, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, killing one and injuring five before congregants demonstrated martial arts techniques by grabbing both weapons from him with an electrical extension cord. The pastor took the opportunity to hit the gunman with a chair. David Wenwei, a 68-year-old Taiwanese, was bitter against the separatists he accuses of stealing his country’s Chinese identity.
In the past year, Biden has twice reiterated his commitment to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese military attack, but many suspect the Pentagon is unwilling to get involved in a military conflict of this magnitude, especially when it sees another open front. has. with Russia in Ukraine. Pelosi’s visit was not on the agenda either. The Congress spokeswoman has deliberately excluded her, although several Taiwanese media outlets assured this Monday that she will arrive on the island on Tuesday. The CNN chain says it has confirmed this through sources in the White House, which is logically aware of the plans.
Asked about the “strong measures” he threatens to take if the visit takes place, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian was as cryptic as Pelosi. “We think the US got the message. Let’s see if he dares to go,” he stopped.
Source: La Verdad
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