Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan on 2 August. China announced that it would carry out military drills in the region surrounding Taiwan and did that. Missiles were launched from China towards Taiwan for the first time in 26 years.
In July 1995, an informal visit to the United States by Taiwan’s then-president Lee Teng-hui caused China to launch six missiles at Taiwan. Thereupon, U.S. President Bill Clinton directed warships to the region.
China’s military response to Taiwan in August 2022 is the largest ever witnessed. However, there are important differences between the conditions of 1995 and today. In 1995, China’s defense budget was only twice that of Taiwan. China’s population was sixty times that of Taiwan. Today, China’s defense budget is twenty times Taiwan’s. While China has a population of 1.4 billion, Taiwan has a population of 24 million today. So, it’s still around sixty times.
Taiwan is an island with strong historical ties with China. However, Taiwan has experienced cultural differentiation from China to a certain extent. The United States and China have been trying to impose their economic approach on the world and they are in a war of hegemony. Taiwan is one of the hotspots of this war. Today, Taiwan is closer to the U.S. ideology with her more liberal and democratic approaches than to China.
China is surrounded by countries ideologically close to the United States on the east and southeast. Economic and political alliances in the Asia-Pacific present an extremely complex view of international relations. The hegemony war between the United States and China is at the root of most of the economic and political formations in the region.
Source: https://www.economist.com/china/2022/08/04/china-sends-missiles-flying-over-taiwan
Taiwan’s international status is ambiguous. The number of countries that recognize Taiwan is only 15 and most of them are negligible countries in international politics.
Pelosi became the first U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives to visit Taiwan after the 1997 visit of former U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. Pelosi’s visit was not approved by the Biden administration. Pelosi was warned by the Biden administration against making the trip. Pelosi is a democrat like Biden. The visit is a reflection of the disorganization in the U.S. foreign policy.
Two years after the Tiananmen Incidents of 1989, Pelosi unfurled a banner commemorating those killed in Tiananmen Square. Her tough stance against China dates back to earlier decades.
China does not want any relations to develop between Taiwan and the United States against her will. China has a “one China policy”. Taiwan is also seen as part of the “one China policy”. Hong Kong came under Chinese rule in 1997 as part of the same policy. However, the principle of “one country, two systems” was supposed to be recognized by China. In other words, Hong Kong was going to be under the Chinese governance, but the life style of Hong Kong adopted under the British rule would not be interfered with. The principle of “one country, two systems” has also been on the agenda for Taiwan from time to time. However, it is unlikely that Taiwan will join China through a smooth transition.
China’s leader, Xi Xinping, is making plans to be elected as the leader of the Communist Party for the third time at the 20th National Congress. The congress is expected to take place in autumn. It is no coincidence that Pelosi’s visit coincided with Xi Xinping’s congress preparation period. The president has created sort of a Xi Xinping doctrine since he took over presidency and is known for his hard stance towards the United States. He sets his country’s agenda with the project of “the rejuvenation of the Chinese people”. There is another date that Pelosi’s visit coincided with: August 1, 1927, the 95th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Under Xi Xinping, China’s nationalist face hardened. Some Chinese commentators, who are in favor of jingoism in foreign policy, even demanded that Pelosi’s plane be shot down.
China will certainly not give up on Taiwan’s annexation. Xi Xinping sees the annexation of Taiwan as part of his project for the rejuvenation of the Chinese people. China will definitely make moves to bring Taiwan under its own rule in the coming years.
There are two crucial points that add economic importance to Taiwan. The Taiwan Strait is one of the world’s most important commercial shipping lines. The strait is important not only for Taiwan, but also for China and South Korea. Ship traffic in the strait has been interrupted by China’s recent missile launches. Another important economic power of Taiwan is that it is the best semiconductor manufacturer in the world.
With China on one side and the USA on the other, what is Taiwan doing? President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan is autonomous and will defend democracy. He has a pro-U.S. stance. Social studies reveal that Taiwanese people do not like the idea of uniting with China.
At the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, the rapprochement between China and Russia was remarkable. There was even talk of the possibility of China opening a front against the United States through Taiwan in order to distract the U.S. in foreign policy. However, it was not in mind that this front would be opened by the United States. It was an American who opened this front: Nancy Pelosi.
China is under the bombardment of criticism from the United States for its increasingly autocratic stance under Xi Jinping. What about the U.S.A.?
It was the United States that invaded Iraq on the grounds that Iraq had nuclear weapons. It was the United States that sold weapons to Taiwan under the Obama administration. In the Trump era, instead of solving problems with dialogue, it was the United States that opened trade wars against China. On January 6, 2021, the country with a president directing the public to storm the US Capitol was the United States. The same president is accused these days of stealing documents from the White House. In short, American democracy is injured. There is an environment of increasing polarization in domestic politics in the United States. The United States has eroded in its foreign policy stance regardless of which government is in power. The United States has been constantly zigzagging in her foreign policy choices.
After Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China announced that it cut off cooperation with the United States in all areas. The United States needs cooperation with China while taking important steps towards the global climate crisis within the framework of the Inflation Reduction Act. If the world’s two largest economies do not cooperate and lead other countries on solutions to the climate crisis, there is nothing to talk about. A visit which was not coherently decided in the American domestic policy has left deep wounds the effects of which will most probably be felt in the future economically, politically and militarily. Was it necessary and worth visiting Taiwan.
