UNFRUITFUL IGNITION

Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit marked a shift in US’ compliance with One-China policy and allowed Xi Jinping an excuse to go full throttle with his reunification ambition — leaving the US in a fix and also endangering India’s trade prospects

- DIPANKAR DEY

Beijing appears to be rehearsing for an attack on Tai-wan islands that sit around 80 miles offthe coast of southern China, where the East China Sea blends into the South China Sea.

Taiwan, home to 23 million people, has been ruled at various times by Dutch colonisers, China’s Qing emperors, and Imperial Japan. In 2019, Xi Jinping gave a speech in which he vowed to ‘reunify’ Taiwan with the mainland, calling it the “great trend of history.” Xi opened the door to peaceful reunification but added: “We make no promise to abandon the use of force, and retain the option of taking all necessary measures.”

The current conflict between Taiwan and China has been triggered by Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on August 3, 2022. Pelosi, the Speaker of the US Congress, became the highest-ranking US official to visit the island since 1997. It may be recalled that more than 30 years ago in 1991, US Representative Nancy Pelosi angered China’s government by showing up in Tiananmen Square and unfurling a banner honouring dissidents killed in the 1989 protests, as per a report by Reuters.

Pelosi’s visit came as part of a tour to US’ allies in the region, designed to show America’s support in the face of increased aggression from Beijing. But the visit came at an opportune time for Xi, who is preparing to be named president for a historic third term in the autumn, and views ‘reunifying’ Taiwan as his destiny. To Pelosi’s visit, he has reacted with an unprecedented show of strength, vowing that “those who play with fire will die by it”. Xi ordered six days of military drills to take place around Taiwan that will effectively blockade the island and encroach into its territorial waters.