Long before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., paid an official visit to Taiwan this week, tensions between China and the island nation of Taiwan appeared to be high. Pelosi also traveled to other places and spoke with political leaders around Asia.
Pelosi’s visit, however, could have made tensions between China, Taiwan, and the Western giants that have supported Taiwan for more than 50 years worse.
In other words, whether on purpose or not, Pelosi’s presence on Taiwanese land has given the conflict between China and Taiwan a public face.
China imposed economic restrictions on Taiwan on Wednesday, or shortly after Pelosi and her Democratic Party team arrived there. Important goods including fish and citrus were prohibited.
Sand, a crucial building resource for Taiwan, was also no longer exported from China.
The different restrictions imposed by China might have an impact on up to 100 Taiwanese businesses, which together account for $328.3 billion in bilateral commerce.
U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns attended an urgent conference in Beijing to address harsh objections and strong concerns against Pelosi’s visit in Taiwan, according to a Wednesday news statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the press release, Pelosi’s travel was an intentional provocation and playing with fire that went against the One China policy.
The press statement further accused the United States of integrating Taiwan in its Indo-Pacific strategy and deleting language stating that Taiwan is a part of China from its State Department website.
On Thursday, reports that China had sent planes and warships to the Taiwan Strait and launched missiles there first surfaced.
Additionally, the Chinese People’s Liberty Army intends to conduct live-fire military drills in and around Taiwan over the course of the upcoming week, essentially encircling the island.
Regarding other Thursday air drills, it has been claimed that a pair of Chinese drones twice passed above Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands through a prohibited region.
Cyberattacks were launched against Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-office wen’s before to Pelosi’s delegation’s arrival to the island.
In addition, the major airport on the island and Taiwan’s foreign and military ministries apparently came under cyberattack.
According to other reports, warning banners reading “Warmonger Pelosi get out of Taiwan,” were flashing on television screens in Taiwanese 7-Eleven convenience stores.
