Africa-Press – Lesotho. Two weeks before Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, President Biden said that US military officials believe her visit is “not a good idea. ” A day before the President’s comments to reporters, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman stated that China would take “resolute and strong measures” should Pelosi visit Taiwan as planned.
While the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman’s declarations are not the same as a statement by President Xi Jinping to President Biden in a one-to-one call, this is somewhat reminiscent of President Biden’s call to President Putin warning/threatening him that the US would impose severe and unprecedented sanctions on Russia if it invaded Ukraine.
These kinds of threats don’t work as Biden learned with Putin and surely, the Chinese know they don’t work. Indeed, Pelosi’s visit was rescheduled in April when she tested positive for Covid.
Then, in early April, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi personally weighed in: “If the speaker of the US House of Representatives knowingly commits a sneaky visit to Taiwan, it will be a malicious provocation to China’s sovereignty, gross interference in its internal affairs and an extremely dangerous political signal to the outside world.
A week after President Biden disclosed the Pentagon’s view (presumably the reference to US military officials was a reference to Pentagon leadership), China’s military spokesperson, Colonel Tan Kefei, weighed in with this: “If the US side insists on going ahead, the Chinese military will never sit idle and will take strong measures to thwart any external interference and separatist attempts for Taiwan independence.
” Note that the Chinese military spokesperson equates Pelosi’s visit as an action of “the US side.
” Now, the US State Department has revealed that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the potential for Pelosi’s visit with China’s Defense Minister Wang Yi during the recent G20 meeting in Bali, He is reported to have said any such trip would be entirely Pelosi’s decision and independent of the US government.
Obviously, the Chinese do not see Pelosi’s visit as a frolic of the Speaker’s own. There may be some justification for the Chinese view. It is reported that Pelosi travelled on a US military aircraft which, of course, is routine for the Speaker of the House, and that it was escorted by military aircraft.
Comments by US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby also endorsed Pelosi’s visit and statements as consistent with US foreign policy. The problem with this is that US foreign policy is conducted by the State Department at the direction of the President, not by the Speaker of the House.
The Chinese, on the other hand, see Pelosi as having a more exalted status because she is third in line to succeed to the Presidency. Lost in this is that being third in line for the presidency does not give Pelosi any authority over US foreign policy any more than being second in line gives Vice President Kamala Harris any say in the matter.
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