US Speaker of Parliament Nancy Pelosi’s unannounced meeting with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has sparked major Chinese maneuvers near Taiwan and might have enormous repercussions. Moscow is demonstratively supporting Beijing.
China has the US because of the Taiwan visit of the US top politician Nancy Pelosi (democrats) threatened with “punishment”. “Those who insult China will be punished,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Southeast Asian international community Asean in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh. Chinese fighter jets invaded Taiwan’s air defense zone once more on Wednesday.
27 Chinese Air Force aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense zone on Wednesday, the Taiwan Ministry of Defense said on Twitter.
As early as Tuesday, more than 20 Chinese military planes flew into Taiwan’s air defense zone during Pelosi’s visit, Taipei officials said. China then said the military drills, which extend up to 20 kilometers from Taiwan’s coast, are “necessary and legitimate” to protect China’s sovereignty.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang described the 82-year-old head of parliament’s visit to Taiwan – a “breakaway province” for China – as a “farce”. She has since left. Wang accused the USA of giving up Chinese sovereignty “under the guise of so-called democracy”. disregard Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also sharply criticized the visit, which the US used to demonstrate its “lawlessness” to the world.
US military warnings ignored
Pelosi was in Taipei for less than 24 hours. Arriving late Tuesday evening, she met President Tsai on Wednesday before flying on to South Korea in the early evening. The top US politician had previously met human rights activists in Taipei, including Wuer Kaixi, the former leader of the democracy movement in China, which was brutally crushed in 1989.
Pelosi arrived in Taipei late Tuesday evening (local time). The officially unannounced stop is part of a larger journey through several Asian countries. US politicians and the military had previously warned of speculation regarding Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, as there might be unforeseeable military consequences – but given China’s armament over the past few decades, successful US military aid for Taiwan would be very expensive in an emergency to be hopeless is the tenor of most assessments. However, US President Joe Biden recently assured that Taipei would be assisted in the event of aggression.
Pelosi met with President Tsai on Wednesday. Pelosi emphasized that solidarity with Taiwan is more important than ever. The US determination to preserve democracy in Taiwan and the rest of the world is “uncompromising”. “We appreciate that Taiwan is one of the freest societies in the world,” she told Taiwan’s parliament.
On trade issues, the new US legislation to strengthen the US chip industry vis-à-vis China offers a greater opportunity for US-Taiwan economic cooperation. At the same time, Pelosi made it clear that the United States respected Beijing’s one-China policy. They support the status quo and do not want violence to be done to Taiwan, but she said, referring to threats by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to seize the island.
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Tsai thanked Pelosi and said they would not budge in the face of the growing threat from China. Taiwan is a reliable partner of the US and will continue to promote cooperation in the areas of security, economic development and supply chains.
“A nuisance created out of nothing”
Mainland China had accused the US of “playing with fire” and announced a military response to Pelosi’s visit important raw material for the construction industry and computer chips), while conversely the import of citrus fruits and certain types of fish was prohibited.
Taiwan’s armed forces fear China’s military exercises taking place in various locations around the island will amount to a naval and air blockade. The maneuvers also raised concern in Japan. Tokyo is a key US ally.
Lavrov said on the sidelines of a visit to Myanmar (Burma) that the US was acting on the basis of “I’ll do what I want”. Such a nuisance was created out of thin air, knowing full well what it means for China, the Russian foreign minister said .
Pelosi’s visit overshadows the Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Cambodia. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also taking part in the multi-day talks that began in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. The meeting of the group of states is an opportunity to calm the tense situation, said Cambodian Deputy Foreign Minister Kung Phoak.
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After being defeated in the civil war by the Communist Party and establishing the People’s Republic of China on the mainland, the government, elites and armed forces of the former “Republic of China” withdrew to Taiwan in 1949. For decades, it was recognized by a majority as the representative of all of China, including at the UN and the UN Security Council. This changed from the 1960s, when more and more countries – especially former colonies – recognized mainland China. In 1971, instead of Taiwan, it became the representative for all of China in the UN and is now only formally recognized by a few countries, such as small Latin American states such as Paraguay, Honduras and Belize and island states in the Pacific such as Palau, Nauru and the Marshall Islands.
The USA also does not recognize Taiwan as an independent state, but sees itself bound by earlier promises of assistance.
(Archyde.com/AFP/APA/wg)
