Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan - despite China's threats and Biden's opposition

Pelosi's visit to Taiwan is the first to the island by the speaker of the US House of Representatives in 25 years, when Republican Newt Gingrich visited it. Pelosi is known as a harsh critic of China and its human rights policies, and her visit could ignite a conflict in the region

Tali Goldstein

02/08/2022

Tuesday, August 2, 2022, 5:24 p.m. Updated: 5:45 p.m.

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Live broadcast from the landing of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (Credit: Reuters)

The Speaker of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, landed today (Tuesday) in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, amid rising tensions between China and the United States because of the visit. According to a report by the RT news agency, China has closed the airspace over the Taiwan Strait to civilian aircraft traffic. Fighter jets Chinese have been launched into the region.

Although the two countries are not interested in a military confrontation, they have been exchanging verbal blows for more than a week ahead of Pelosi's controversial visit. The real reason for the Chinese criticism of the visit to the sovereign island is that Beijing sees Taiwan as an inseparable part of it and wants to take over it completely. Taiwan On the other hand, it wants to remain independent and expects protection from the United States in the event of a Chinese attack.

An even bigger reason is the competition that has developed between the old power, which has been considered the strongest in the world since the end of World War II, and a country that has gradually grown stronger in recent decades, and now poses a threat to the entire world.

Pelosi's visit will contribute to the instability in the already unstable relations, which increases the chances of a future war between the two sides, which will surely expand into a world war.

On video: in preparation for Pelosi's visit to Taiwan - the Chinese army practices shooting and Taiwanese go into shelters (Photo: Reuters)

The Chinese issued extremely harsh warnings ahead of Pelosi's visit - the third most important in American politics, after the president and his vice president - while Washington responded with no less strong statements regarding the Chinese threats.

In addition, local political forces from each of the countries are involved in the dispute, exerting pressure and further complicating the complex situation.

Pelosi's visit to Taiwan will be the first by a speaker of the US House of Representatives in 25 years, when Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich visited the island.

Pelosi is known as a harsh critic of China and its human rights policies.

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Nancy Pelosi in Malaysia, yesterday (Photo: Reuters)

According to commentators, the main question is how China will respond to the visit after all the verbal threats it has made.

Some believe that China will have to carry out some sort of military show of force, other than sending fighter jets into Taiwan's airspace.

Although such a step would not pose a direct threat to the American naval force stationed in the area, it could increase the chance of an accident or another wrong step by one of the parties.

In addition, the question arises as to how Taiwan will respond to serious provocations from China.

The residents of Taipei are preparing for a Chinese attack (Photo: Reuters)

US President Joe Biden, who opposed Pelosi's visit, tried to calm the flames ahead of time and spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the issue.

"He made it clear that Congress is an independent arm of the government, and Nancy Pelosi makes her own decisions about her trips overseas," Kirby said.

"For us, the visit does not change anything regarding our policy towards China," he added.

However, according to commentators, the White House's efforts to convince Beijing that there should be a separation between Pelosi's visit and administration policy were doomed to failure.

For them, any visit by a high-ranking figure like Pelosi is proof of American support for Taiwan's independence - something unacceptable, in the eyes of the Chinese.

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