Amid several warnings issued by China against visiting Taiwan, the speaker of U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, reached Taiwan on August 02,2022. She became the highest ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. As expected China reacted strongly by calling it an “extremely dangerous” move and warned US of dire consequences. The Chinese military said it was on ‘high alert’ and would launch a series of targeted military actions in response to the visit, warning US that Washington “shall pay the price” for it.
After the end of second world war, a bloody civil war between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led to the KMT nationalists fleeing to the island of Formosa, which we today know as ‘Taiwan’. Although USA accepts the “One China Policy”, it has maintained that if China invades the island, US would support Taiwan’s defence. As US-China relations have been strained in last few years due to tarrif war and covid-19, the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty has once again become the bone of contention between both the countries. China has been teasing the island by sending its airplanes into Taiwan’s air defence zone time and again. The visit by US speaker has invited severe criticism from China, which warned US earlier as well to not “play with fire.”
Nancy Pelosi is a vocal critic of China majorly due to the human rights violations in various regions of Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet. During her visit to Taiwan, Nancy once again affirmed America’s ‘determination to preserve democracy’ and its support for Taiwan. She held a series of high profile meetings with the Taiwanese officials, in one of which the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-Wen called Pelosi “Taiwan’s most devoted friend.”
Soon after Pelosi left the island on August 03, 27 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s air defence zone. China also decided to block imports of citrus fruits, fish and other foods from Taiwan in retaliation of the visit.
There is not even an iota of doubt in the fact that Nancy’s visit to Taiwan had left the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) simmering with anger. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs even condemned the visit as an attack on China’s ‘sovereignty.’ China dreams of a ‘national unification’ but it keeps forgetting that the world is ready to accept Taiwan as an independent entity and the US speaker’s visit is an affirmation of its ironclad stand and unconditional support to uphold Taiwan’s sovereignty and security in case of a Chinese invasion.
China can continue with its futile military drills, but the US has made it unequivocally clear that it would “not abandon” Taiwan and this is the fact that’s upsetting China’s stomach.
