By Matthew Lee – AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON – U. S. -China relations are on the verge of breaking down after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan.
Pelosi won an enthusiastic welcome in Taipei and was applauded with strong bipartisanship in Washington, despite the Biden administration’s reluctance. But his vacation infuriated Beijing and Chinese nationalists and will complicate already strained ties even after he leaves.
China is already preparing new shows of force in the Taiwan Strait to make clear that its claims are non-negotiable on the island it considers a renegade province. Diplomatic lobbying and rising tensions increase the dangers of a confrontation with the military, whether intentional or not.
And it may only further blur Washington’s already confusing appointments with Beijing, as the two sides grapple with differences over trade, the war in Ukraine, human rights and more.
Wary of China’s reaction, Biden’s management discouraged but did not stop Pelosi from traveling to Taiwan. He was careful to point out in Beijing that the Speaker of the House is not a member of the executive and that her scale in does not constitute any replacement in the US policy of “one China”.
Pelosi, who ranks high in the U. S. presidency, is a prominent figure in the U. S. presidency. She was not invited and was received almost as a head of state. Taiwan’s skyline lit up with a welcome message and it met with the island’s biggest names, adding its president, high-ranking lawmakers and prominent rights activists.
The Chinese were furious.
“What Pelosi has done is not a defense and maintenance of democracy, but a provocation and a violation of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said after her departure.
“Pelosi’s harmful provocation is purely for non-public political capital, which is a political farce that is certainly ugly,” Hua said. “China-US as well as regional peace and stability are suffering. “
The timing of the scale in could have increased tensions. It preceded this year’s Communist Party of China Congress in which President Xi Jinping will try to further consolidate his power, a hard line on Taiwan to mitigate domestic grievances about COVID-19. , the economy and other topics.
Summoned to the Foreign Ministry to hear China’s complaints, the U. S. ambassadorU. S. Secretary of State Nicholas Burns insisted that the scale is not yet routine. to the State Department.
The White House also said Pelosi “replaces nothing” in the U. S. position toward China and Taiwan. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the United States expected China’s harsh reaction, though she called it unjustified.
“We will monitor what Beijing decides to do,” he added.
Alarmed by the possibility of a new geostrategic clash as the West sides with Ukraine in its resistance to the Russian invasion, the United States has rallied allies at its side.
The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 industrialized democracies on Wednesday issued a mandatory message to China, through the initials of its official name, the People’s Republic of China, to calm down.
“It is general and regulatory for legislators from our countries to travel abroad,” the G7 ministers said. “The growing reaction of the People’s Republic of China threatens to expand tensions and destabilize the region. We call on the People’s Republic of China not to unilaterally replace the prestige quo with force. “in the region and to cross-Strait disputes by non-violent means.
However, this prestige quo, long known as a “strategic ambiguity” for the U. S. The U. S. and a calm but determined Chinese opposition to any fiction of Taiwan independence is no longer sustainable for either side.
“It’s very difficult for Beijing and Washington to agree on Taiwan,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, professor emeritus at Hong Kong Baptist University.
In Taipei and the U. S. Congress, steps are being taken to explain the ambiguity that has explained U. S. relations. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will soon issue a bill that would strengthen relations and require the executive branch to do more to integrate Taiwan into the foreign system, and take more decisive steps to help the island protect itself.
Writing in the New York Times, the committee’s chairman, Robert Menendez, D-N. J. , criticized China’s reaction to Pelosi’s visit.
“The result of Beijing’s bluster deserves to be to build in Taipei, Washington and the entire region,” he said. “There are many methods to continue resisting Chinese aggression. There is a transparent bipartisan agreement in Congress on the importance of acting now to provide the other Taiwanese with the kind of help they desperately need.
But China appears to be moving forward with potentially aggravating measures, adding live-fire military training scheduled for this week and a steady buildup on fighter jet flights in and near Taiwan’s self-proclaimed air defense zone.
“They go to the Taiwanese and the Americans,” said Cabestan, the professor in Hong Kong. He said the moves of the U. S. military. U. S. troops in the region, adding a naval force led by the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, will be critical.
China intensified the outlook weeks ago by pointing out that the Taiwan Strait separating the island from the mainland are not foreign waters. The United States rejected this and responded by sending more ships through it. the American aspect to draw red lines to prevent the Chinese from going too far. “
Meanwhile, Taiwan is on edge, bomb shelters have been prepared, and the government is stepping up education for recruits who meet the required 4 months of military service, deemed inadequate, as well as annual two-week refresher courses for reservists.
“The Chinese feel that if they don’t act, the United States will continue to cut salami to take further steps in favor of Taiwan independence,” said Bonnie Glaser, China expert on the German Marshall Fund’s Asia program.
She said the U. S. national. The U. S. Government for Taiwan actually activates China to adopt a business stance: “China feels stressed about doing more to sign that this is a factor that China cannot engage in. “
Despite early considerations about escalation and possible miscalculations, there are others who do not believe that the damage to U. S. -China relations is more lasting than that caused by other problems unrelated to Taiwan.
China “is going to make a big fuss and there will be military training and there will be embargoes on the import of Taiwanese products. And after the screaming is over, you’ll see slow relaxation,” said June Teufel Dreyer, a Chinese specialist. politics at the University of Miami.
“The scenario will never return to full normal, no matter how normal, but it will calm down,” he said.
By Matthieu Lee
AP DIPLOMATIC EDITOR
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