The Pelosi challenge: How an 82-year-old grandmother gave the green light for world leaders to embrace Taiwan -- China Boss update 8.05.22
Update
What happened.
In his recent opinion Pelosi has Nailed the Optics of her Taiwan Trip, Bloomberg’s Matthew Brooker wrote that “Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan may have been poorly timed, an unnecessary provocation, a reckless gamble, a grandstanding act or a combination of them all. . . But there’s little doubt that the House speaker has done a good job so far of communicating the fundamental issues behind her trip, and why the island’s fate should matter to the world.”
Brooker, Bloomberg:
The optics of the speaker’s meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen were loaded with symbolism. Pelosi paid tribute to Tsai, saying, “We are so proud of your leadership, a woman president in one of the freest societies in the world.” The unspoken contrast was with the all-male leadership of the People’s Republic of China, where no woman has ascended to the Politburo Standing Committee, the highest political body, since its foundation in 1949. The understated presence and language of Taiwan’s popularly elected leader also stand in sharp relief to the bellicose rhetoric emanating from Beijing, which again repeated its warning that those who play with fire “will perish by it.”
The symbolism extended to the rest of Pelosi’s itinerary. The speaker also met Wu’er Kaixi, the exiled Tiananmen student leader,and Lee Ming-che, a Taiwan pro-democracy activist who spent five years in prison in China on subversion charges, as well as Lam Wing-kee, a Hong Kong bookseller who was detained in the mainland after selling works critical of the Communist Party elite, and subsequently fled to Taiwan.
Why it matters.
Denial of Taiwan’s statehood got us here
Denying statehood to a highly advanced and self-ruled people who sit astride the global supply chain bearing the latest in semiconductor technology
IS.
NOT.
SUSTAINABLE.
And it makes little sense from a geopolitical, international law, environmental or global health perspective. The only way it can be understood how 180 of 193 countries illegally and unjustly stripped Taiwan’s 20m people of their rightful place in the international system is as a prerequisite for China’s foreign aid and market access.
China Boss is, of course, not the only China watcher to make this point. Last year, according to VOA News, the “[l]eading industrial nations came out in support of Taiwan's observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO),” at the annual G7 summit.
VOA:
It is the first time the Group of Seven as a whole has backed Taiwan's inclusion in the WHA.
"We support Taiwan's meaningful participation in World Health Organization forums and the World Health Assembly. The international community should be able to benefit from the experience of all partners, including Taiwan's successful contribution to the tackling of the COVID-19 pandemic," the G-7 said in a joint communique Wednesday after foreign ministers gathered … in London.
But by May 2022 - and this should not shock you - Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO assembly had failed “after a campaign of diplomatic pressure from China to isolate the island,” Reuters said.
Framing the issue is everything: Pelosi just yanked the Taiwan question away from Beijing
But back to Nancy Pelosi and why her trip will defy all the naysayers to have lasting impact on the way that Taiwan is seen by the world.
As she departed Taipei last Wednesday for the rest of her Asia tour, Pelosi issued a carefully worded summons after “express[ing] her admiration for Taiwan’s democracy” and “criticiz[ing]” Beijing “for obstructing Taiwan on the world stage.”
The Guardian:
“Sadly, Taiwan has been prevented from participating in global meetings, most recently the World Health Organization, because of objections by the Chinese Communist party,” Pelosi said in statement.
“While they may prevent Taiwan from sending its leaders to global forums, they cannot prevent world leaders or anyone from travelling to Taiwan to pay respect to its flourishing democracy, to highlight its many successes and to reaffirm our commitment to continued collaboration.”
Emphasis added.
Someone ate her wheaties
That’s quite a challenge coming from an 82-year-old grandmother. But are other members of congress, parliaments, and executive branches up to it?
You bet they are! Despite all the “ways China is hitting back” at the US and Taiwan for Pelosi’s trip, here are some developments that seem to buck the old “anything-China-wants-China-gets-with-respect-to-Taiwan” trend.
UK
British MPs plan visit to Taiwan as tension with China simmers (Vincent Ni, The Guardian)
Read for The Guardian’s exclusive on why "Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the [UK] foreign affairs select committee, is expected to lead [a] delegation to Taiwan later this year.”
Japan
China Cancels Japan Meeting Over G-7 Criticism of Taiwan Drills (Bloomberg)
Read for another illustration of how Japan, who has traditionally “sought to avoid alienating its biggest trading partner, China, while bolstering ties with its only formal military ally, the US,” edges closer to a deeper partnership with Taiwan. For Tokyo - it’s mostly about security in the archipelago’s back yard: War on the Rocks says Japan is having its “pro-Taiwan” moment.
EU
‘This is America’s fight’: Europe largely stays out of the fray on Pelosi’s trip. (Steven Erlanger, The New York Times)
Read to understand how “increasing criticism of China has led to more interest in Europe in the fate of Taiwan, which, like Ukraine, is another little democracy facing a nuclear-armed authoritarian.” Note: China Boss has lived in Europe for four years, now, and has been closely following its hardening stance on China issues. MEP Raphaël Glucksmann led an official European Parliament delegation to Taiwan where it met President Tsai a few months ago (French). (In English, here.)
The G7
China Direct: Taiwan crisis — 4-day de facto blockade — G7 slam drills (Stuart Lau, Politico)
Read for Lau’s report on the G7 statement - as a reminder that’s Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union - issued Wednesday that “slammed” Beijing’s “escalatory” drills.
The original statement reads: “There is no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait. It is normal and routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally. The PRC’s escalatory response risks increasing tensions and destabilizing the region.” Beijing is furious over it.
Watch on YouTube.
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August weather in Portugal is just right. Saw lots of bench-warmers in Porto today. :) Have a great weekend.