News of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's possible visit to Taiwan has angered China, embroiling the White House in a serious geopolitical dilemma. How big a problem is this dilemma? China has warned that there will be "serious consequences" if Speaker Nancy Pelosi goes ahead with plans to visit Taiwan. In the US system of government, second only to the office of the presidency, comes the vice president and then the speaker. Nancy Pelosi will be the most senior US politician to visit the island since 1997.
Any U.S. intervention in Taiwan infuriates China because China claims an independent Taiwan as its own as a separate province. China has not ruled out the possible use of force to achieve this.
Even the Biden administration has reportedly tried to prevent the leader of the Democratic Party elected from California from going to Taiwan.
Last week, President Joe Biden told reporters that 'the military doesn't think it's a good idea.' But his White House has called the Chinese statement against any such trip "clearly futile and unnecessary." The State Department says Nancy Pelosi has not announced a trip and there has been no change in the US approach to Taiwan. Although the US maintains its Taiwan policy of what it calls 'strong, unofficial relations' with Taiwan, it has formal diplomatic relations with China but not with Taiwan.
Nancy Pelosi's visit, if indeed it were to happen, comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing and ahead of an expected phone call between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Why would Pelosi want to go to Taiwan?
There is a common bipartisan support for relations with Taiwan in the American public and in the US Congress, and during a 35-year congressional career, Speaker Pelosi has been an outspoken critic of China.
Speaker Pelosi has condemned China's human rights record and met with pro-democracy advocates in Taiwan. He also visited Tiananmen Square in Beijing to commemorate the victims of the 1989 massacre.
Speaker Pelosi originally planned to visit Taiwan in April, but that was postponed after she tested positive for Covid-19.
He declined to discuss details of the trip, but said last week that it was "important for us to show support for Taiwan."
Why does China oppose the visit?
China views Taiwan as its territory, and has repeatedly stated that it will annex it by force if necessary.
Chinese officials have expressed anger at what they see as increased diplomatic activity between Taipei (Taiwan's capital) and Washington (the US capital). This includes a surprise visit to the island by six US lawmakers in April.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned that his country would take "strong and inflexible measures" if Nancy Pelosi were to carry out her visit. He added that 'and the United States will be responsible for all these serious consequences.'
A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defense says that a military response may also be given.
"If the US side insists on advancing, the Chinese military will never sit idly by and resist any external interference and separatist efforts to 'liberate Taiwan,'" Chinese military spokesman Col. Tan Keefei told China Daily. will take strict measures to thwart it.'
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