Welcome message for the Speaker of the US House of Representatives in the Taiwanese capital.
(Photo: dpa)
teipei US top politician Nancy Pelosi has now also flown to Taiwan on her trip to Southeast Asia. On Tuesday afternoon (CEST), the Boeing C-40 Clipper, a military version of the Boeing 737-700C, landed with flight number SPAR19 in Taipei. Pelosi is scheduled to meet Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen there.
The President of the US House of Representatives is the highest-ranking politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years. Your stay is considered an appreciation of the democratic island republic. For China, the visit is a political affront.
Even before Pelosi’s visit, China’s People’s Liberation Army had increased the threat with maneuvers, target practice, military aircraft and warships near Taiwan and the closure of sea areas. Shortly before landing, Chinese warplanes are said to have crossed the Taiwan Strait, according to Chinese state television, the CCTV broadcaster reported.
In response, Taiwan’s military also increased its operational readiness on Tuesday, as reported by the CNA news agency. However, the two-stage alarm system is not yet a classification for the “emergency”, but continues to be a “normal operational readiness”.
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Tensions with China notwithstanding, the visit to Taiwan is widely welcomed. In Taipei, it was also seen as a setback for Beijing, which is trying to isolate Taiwan internationally. Cross-party Taiwanese parliamentarians welcomed the 82-year-old.
Supporters hold a large welcome banner in front of the hotel where Speaker of the US House of Representatives Pelosi will be accommodated.
(Photo: dpa)
The US government is following Pelosi’s journey with concern. US President Joe Biden fears that the visit to the Asian ally could further deteriorate the already strained relations with China. Beijing could even close the airspace over Taiwan, they say.
China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping warned US President Biden in a telephone call on Thursday before the visit: “Those who play with fire will perish.”
From the point of view of the Chinese leadership, Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic, although it was already governed independently before it was founded in 1949. The island, which has a population of 23 million, has long considered itself independent. Referring to its “One China Doctrine,” Beijing firmly rejects official contacts from other countries to Taipei.
China’s president sees achieving “unification” with Taiwan as his “historic” mission and threatens conquest.
Taiwan has long been preparing for a possible Chinese attack.
(Photo: Reuters)
The claim to power on the island goes back to the founding history of the People’s Republic, which explains its great importance for the Communist Party. At the end of the civil war against the communists, the national Chinese Kuomintang government fled with its troops to Taiwan, while the communists proclaimed the People’s Republic in 1949.
The island is of geostrategic importance due to its location on economically important straits and was once described by US generals as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier”.
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Despite the visit, the China expert Taylor Fravel, director of the program for security studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, does not expect a direct conflict between China and the USA, but a targeted escalation on the part of Beijing. “The response will almost certainly involve a military component, most likely with a show of force,” he warns.
This could be target practice, like last week’s maneuvers off the coast of Fujian province, across from Taiwan. He also thinks that the Chinese military could have a significantly stronger military presence in the Taiwan Strait, through which important shipping routes to Japan and South Korea also pass.
He does not exclude that the Chinese military also fly over the center line between the island and the mainland, which is the unofficial border of the spheres of influence, or missile tests like in 1996.
Taiwan – one of the most dangerous trouble spots in the world
In addition, Fravel also expects economic and diplomatic punitive actions “which are probably mainly aimed at Taiwan”. Taiwan is particularly economically dependent on the huge market in the Middle Kingdom. Around 60 percent of Taiwanese exports go to the People’s Republic of China.
A Beijing backlash “could stretch for days if not weeks, but would likely begin after Pelosi’s departure from Taiwan,” Fravel expects. His conclusion: “The goal will be to underline the determination without triggering an escalation.”
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