On Tuesday, the Chinese Government and people were furious over the visit of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives to Taiwan.
Pelosi was in the island as part of her wider Asian tour, which also took her to Japan and other neighboring countries. But her visit to Taiwan provoked the Chinese Government into taking specific military drills at and firing missiles into the territorial waters of Taiwan to establish Chinese sovereignty over the island.
Pelosi left Taiwan on Wednesday but she triggered a crisis that set new brinkmanship between China and the United States over power and influence in Asia.
Taiwan is now bracing as Beijing began live-fire military drills on Thursday, an escalation without recent historical precedent that could encircle the island and drop missiles into seas only 10 miles from its coast.
China had warned against the visit adding that it will come with repercussions. Beijing said the visit was an outrageous breach of diplomatic norms and has taken prompt steps to establish its sovereignty over Taiwan. As of Wednesday, dozens of Chinese fighter jets and war ships were reportedly encircling Taiwan in a show of force that is certain to bring a crisis in the Taiwan Peninsular and the Asian region.
Ms Pelosi is the most senior US politician to visit in 25 years, but Chinese authorities see that as a direct affront to its sovereignty over Taiwan.
Although Taiwan is self-ruled, China sees it as part of mainland China and a visible part of the “One China” policy under the sovereign authority of Beijing.
The Beijing accused the US of “Violating China’s sovereignty under the guise of so-called democracy”, Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi said, “Those who play with fire will not come to a good end and those who offend China will be punished.”
Ms Pelosi in a statement however, said China cannot “prevent world leaders or anyone from traveling to Taiwan to pay respect to its flourishing democracy, to highlight its many successes and to reaffirm our commitment to continued collaboration”.
Incidentally, Pelosi’s visit was reportedly not approved by President Joe Biden, who had cautioned that the American military felt it was “Not a good idea right now” amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
Now, it appears the US is caught in the web of a diplomatic dilemma with its Taiwan policy. On the one hand, it backs the “One China” policy, which recognises only one Chinese government, giving it formal ties with Beijing and not Taiwan.
On the other hand, it maintains a “robust unofficial” relationship with the island, which includes selling weapons for Taiwan to defend itself.
The military exercises, which began on Thursday and would last for five days – is taking take place in some of the world’s busiest waterways and will include “long-range live ammunition shooting”.
Some of the exercises may breach Taiwan’s territorial waters according to the China Defence Ministry.
The threat of war is real and the world may not cope with the consequences judging by the disruptions and difficult times caused by the war in Ukraine.
This has prompted the foreign ministers from the G7 nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US – to release a joint statement saying China’s escalation risked destabilising the region.
“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 statement said.
However, speaking to LEADERSHIP on Wednesday, the Director of Center for China Studies, an Abuja-based think tank, Charles Onunaiju, said the Chinese Government action is to tackle the recalcitrant and what he called separatists forces in Taiwan, who are emboldening Washington to use Taiwan as strategy of containment of China.
“ Taiwan is a sovereign part of China, Taiwan has never been a country in history. The three documents that are at the foundation of the US-China relations (1972,1979 and 1982) were signed by the US agreeing that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of that China. So, why is the US encouraging a separatist clique in Taiwan to create one China and one Taiwan?”
The expert warned that if wise counsel does not prevail and a war breaks out in Asia, the US should be held responsible even as he urged the rest of the world to brace up for the eventualities.
“ If the US wants confrontation in the Taiwan Peninsular, they will get it. China has made it clear that if the US decides to interfere militarily in Taiwan, they will get the response they deserve. If war breaks out in Asia, the US should take the responsibility,” he said.
Taiwan, which was formally called the Island of Formosa, was where the Koumintang forces led by Chai Kai Shek, fled to when they were defeated by the forces of the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Mail Zedong that ended in 1949. Until 1971, the Koumintang was recognized in the United Nations as the representative of China in the world body. All that changed when the People’s Republic of China represented by the Beijing Government was admitted in 1971 as the representative of all the Chinese people including Taiwan as the UN stopped recognising Taiwan.
