Nancy Pelosi pledged an ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Taiwan during a historic visit to the country on Wednesday that has infuriated China and raised warnings that military manoeuvres Beijing announced in retaliation would amount to a blockade of the island.
The comments from the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, made during a meeting with Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen, heartened Taiwanese hoping for firmer support from Washington but were set to further raise tensions with China.
(Financial Times, August 3, 2022)
And so, far from a dragon that breathes fire – as so many fear, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has exposed China as more like a boy who cries wolf…
I’m on record saying Pelosi not only should but must go to Taiwan. She did, and it was every bit the triumph – for the prerogatives of democracy over the dictates of autocracy – I knew it would be.
Military drills to save face
Meanwhile, far from a feared and mighty superpower, China came across like a deranged and weak snowflake. Because it made no sense that it was threatening war just because a respected politician from the US, its most important trading partner, was making a routine visit to Taiwan.
China’s Xi Jinping is now aping North Korea’s Kim Jong-un by having his military blow up bombs aimlessly in the Taiwan Straits in “retaliation.” But it won’t save his face from the humiliation he caused by issuing plainly hollow threats in a vain attempt to bully Pelosi … indeed, the United States!
Hell,, not since his “friend without limits,” Russian President Vladimir Putin, thought he could bully Ukraine into letting him annex it, the way he annexed Crimea, has an autocrat been so misled and ultimately humiliated by his own propaganda and delusions of grandeur.
Pundits with egg on face
Richard Haas and Thomas Friedman were in the vanguard of pundits advising Pelosi not to go. And, remarkably, the only reason they cited was fear of China making good on its bullying threats.
But, given the way Pelosi emasculated their concerns, they should take a moment to wipe the egg off their faces before appearing on TV to offer any more of their sage advice.
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