House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wanted to make a point visiting Taiwan Aug. 2, saying that Beijing can’t dictate her itinerary on any foreign trip. Pelosi came to Taiwan delivering message to Chinese President Xi Jinping that there’s nothing China can do to intimidate her into changing her plans. But beyond the obvious symbolism of Pelosi saying she’s there to support Taiwan’s democracy, another message was delivered to the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. Pelosi came to Taiwan to reinforce what 79-year-old President Joe Biden said March 23, that the United States would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Since taking refuge on the Island of Formosa during the 1949 Maoist Revolution, Chinese nationalists led by Gen. Chiang Kai-Shek took up refuge in Taiwan to preserve their democratic tradition. Chairman Mao Zedong made sure that Marxist-Leninism ruled China forever.
Well, 73 year after the Maoist Reovoution, Taiwan stands as a vibrant democracy, something that irks the CCP. Xi reminds Taiwan almost daily that they’re part of Mainland China, despite spending the last 73-years developing a democratic, free-market society. Generations of Chinese leaders since Mao left office in 1976 accepted Taiwan as an aberration in Chinese history, knowing that the U.S. backed the democratic island nation since its inception. Former President Jimmy Carter mucked things up in 1979 with the Taiwan Relations Act, a new treaty that superseded the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, established to protect Chinese nationalists from a possible Communist Chinese takeover. Carter’s Taiwan Relations Act ended the mutual defense treaty with Taiwan and forced the U.S. government to recognize only one China, the one in Beijing.
Pelosi’s trip to Taipei was more than a friendly visit by a supporter of Taiwan’s democracy. It ended the notion of “strategic ambiguity” when it came to whether the U.S. would defend Taiwan. Xi interpreted Pelosi’s trip as proof that U.S. government supports Taiwan’s independence from Communist China, a disputed issue for the last 43 years. Carter’s Taiwan Relations Act essentially negated Taiwan’s statehood, despite the fact it had an independently functioning government since 1949. China claims Taiwan as its own sovereign territory, despite the fact the government functions entirely independent of Beijing. China would like to get its hands on Taiwan Semiconductor [TSMC], founded in 1987, becoming the world’s largest chip maker. TSMC’s 67-year-old CEO Mark Liu told Pelosi that any takeover of TSMC would create chaos in the world’s chip industry, plunging the world economy into recession.
Liu offered to give $100 million to help defend Taiwan from any Chinese Mainland invasion. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Pelosi’s visit a provocative threat to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Pelosi’s visit “gravely undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, seriously tramples on the one-China principle, and severely threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” said Wang Yi. Clearly, China viewed Pelosi’s visit as a repudiation of the Taiwan Relations Act, requiring the U.S. to defer all maters of state to Beijing. While the State Department says there’s been no change in U.S. policy, Xi sees that Biden and Pelosi have agreed to defend Chinese nationalists against a Communist takeover. Xi sees Pelosi’s trip as ending “strategic ambiguity” to no doubt at all about the U.S. position of supporting Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.
China has a much more formidable military today than in the past. If it really wanted to invade Taiwan, they wouldn’t go down without a fight. No one in Taipei wants to join forces with Beijing. They’ve seen first hand what happened in Hong Kong when a fledgling pro-democracy movement got squelched by the CCP. Pelosi went to April 15, 1989 to June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, where hundreds, if not thousands, were mowed down by Chinese troops. Pelosi visited Tiananmen Square in 1991, laving a wreath for the pro-democracy protesters that lost their lives. So, when it comes to Pelosi, she’s already on China’s black-list. But let there be no mistake, Pelosi went to Taiwan to say the U.S. would fight Communist China’s attempt to takeover Taiwan’s democratic government. Biden and Pelosi delivered a loud message to Beijing that the U.S. doesn’t accept sovereignty over Taiwan.
State Department officials have been busy walking back any significance to Pelosi’s Taiwan visit. “We will not seek and do not want a crisis. At the same time, we will not be deterred from operating in the seas and skies of the Western Pacific, consistent with international law, as we have for decades—supporting Taiwan and defending a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby. Beijing decided today to slap sanctions on Pelosi and her family for violating China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Unless there’s a major change of the White House position on Taiwan, Beijing will consider the U.S. government in breach of the Taiwan Relations Act. Biden and Pelosi made clear they would do anything, including go to war, to protect the democratic island nation of Taiwan. China’s reaction mirrors the change of U.S. policy.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
