US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s contentious visit to Taiwan, which heightened tensions between the two giants, has sparked a furious response from China.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, branded the trip a ‘complete farce’ and repeated the much-used phrase by Chinese diplomacy that ‘those who play with fire will perish by it.’
In a phone chat to US President Joe Biden last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping used the same phrase.
The trip was still pending as of Monday, and the Chinese foreign ministry criticized Pelosi for “brazenly” pushing forward with it, saying it “maliciously infringes on China’s sovereignty and shamelessly participates in political provocations.”
The statement read, “It once again demonstrates that certain US lawmakers have turned into ‘troublemakers’ of China-US ties.”
The Taiwan Affairs Office of China intervened, threatening “criminal punitive measures” against “die-hard” pro-independence Taiwanese.
The Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister also called US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns late Tuesday night to express his displeasure with Pelosi’s visit.
Pelosi’s visit is the first by a high-ranking elected US government official in 25 years, and Beijing is furious because they see it as a breach of the one-China policy that the US has vowed to uphold.
Under the policy, the US defers to Beijing and does not recognize Taiwan as an independent state, although it provides plenty of unofficial diplomatic and military support in a compromise that has kept the peace for decades.
The Chinese Defense Ministry claimed that Pelosi’s presence in Taipei ‘the wrong move’ that has ‘maliciously provoked and created the crisis’ and ‘seriously violated the one-China principle’
They said that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is on ‘high alert’, promising ‘targeted military operations’ to safeguard ‘China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.’
As part of those operations, China sent 21 military planes into Taiwan’s air defense zone last night, Taipei claimed.
Beijing boasted that it had also dispatched its elite J-20 stealth fighter jets toward the tiny island nation.
Beijing’s fighter planes had earlier sent a warning as they buzzed the Taiwan Strait, the 100 mile-wide strip of water that separates the two nations, in the immediate aftermath of House of Representative speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s arrival in Taipei.
Chinese media confirmed its J-20 stealth jets had taken to the skies around the island, and two of Beijing’s warships – a destroyer and a frigate – are in the seas to the east.
Since 1995, when there was serious anxiety about the likelihood of an all-out conflict, there hasn’t been a missile launch into the Taiwan Strait.
Images shared on the Chinese social media site Weibo on Tuesday looked to show tanks gathering on the Fujian coast, which is the location closest to the island on the mainland of China.
In the adjacent city of Xiamen, columns of armored vehicles were also spotted moving through the streets. A video this week that was published on official media websites displayed Chinese military weapons and exhorted troops to “be ready to combat upon order, bury all oncoming enemy.”
China is searching for methods to demonstrate its anger and punish the island without starting a military conflict with the US. Later this week, China will encircle Taiwan and essentially blockade the island with large military maneuvers.
Drills will be conducted over the course of four days beginning on Thursday and continuing through Sunday in six different places surrounding Taiwan, three of which, according to Taipei, violate international rules seriously by entering the island’s territorial seas.
According to analysts, Beijing is practicing its potential to cut off the island from the outside world in the case of a conflict, thus shipping and aviation traffic will be shut off in particular areas in what amounts to an effective blockade.
The island will resolutely protect its security, retaliate against any action that infringes on its sovereignty, and raise its readiness level while adhering to the concept of not begging for conflict, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.
Pelosi met with Taiwan’s female president Tsai Ing-wen during her much awaited visit to the island democracy, telling her that the contentious trip proves the US “would not relinquish its commitment” to the territory.
The Democrat explicitly criticized China for its sexism after its officials warned that the trip would push Taiwan into a “disastrous abyss,” saying to reporters: “They didn’t say anything when the men came.”
Her remark referred to the surprise one-day visit made by bipartisan congressional delegation in April 2021. The group included Senators Lindsey Graham, Bob Menendez, Richard Burr, Ben Sasse and Rob Portman, as well as Rep. Ronny Jackson.
Pelosi blasted Beijing for forbidding Taiwan from “engaging and travelling to certain gatherings,” but she said that her administration “would not stand in the way of anyone coming to Taiwan.”
In her remarks to the Taipei parliament, she also praised Taiwan’s self-government, calling it “one of the freest societies in the world.”
The visit by Mrs. Pelosi comes amid concerns that China would attack independent Taiwan in an effort to reunite the island with the mainland.
Joe Biden has sworn to safeguard Taiwan, which is considered as a barrier to China’s rise in Asia despite the US and UK not having formal diplomatic relations with it.
Immediately after landing, Mrs. Pelosi issued a statement in which she stated that the visit was made to “honor America’s steadfast commitment to supporting Taiwan’s thriving democracy.”
The speaker, 82, said the trip to Asia, which includes stops in Singapore, South Korea and Japan, was ‘focused on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance’ rather than changing US policy.
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