Editorial | Short-sighted Taiwan visit by Nancy Pelosi makes strait a more dangerous place
- Trip to Taiwan by US House speaker has violated China’s sovereignty and shaken the political foundation of Sino-American ties, with potentially dire consequences
Trust between Beijing and Washington has been dangerously eroded by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. Each step and speech during her stay on the island appeared aimed at provoking China.
That will be to the detriment of relations across the Taiwan Strait and between the world’s two leading economies. Sovereignty and internal integrity have been violated and the political foundation of Sino-American ties shaken, with potentially dire consequences.
Pelosi, the highest-ranking American official to visit the self-ruled island since 1997, said her stopover as part of an Asian trip was as a private citizen, a claim echoed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials. President Joe Biden tried to distance himself from it by saying on July 20 that “the military thinks that it’s not a good idea right now”.
The secretive nature with a flight from Malaysia avoiding the disputed waters of the South China Sea seemed aimed at diplomatic expediency. But while she, the American leader and others have repeatedly stressed the United States adheres to the one-China principle and supports maintaining the status quo across the strait, actions are not matching words.
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US House Speaker Pelosi meets Taiwanese president, officials and activists on controversial visit
From her meeting with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen to a speech to parliament and talks with officials, Pelosi trampled long-standing agreements between the US and China that the island is sovereign Chinese territory that will be eventually peacefully reunified with the mainland. She indirectly supported Taiwanese independence, speaking of a “thriving partnership grounded in our shared values of self-government and self-determination”.