China’s communist regime has threatened “strong measures” if the House Speaker visits Taiwan. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is scheduled to travel to the island democracy next month. China says the trip is a threat and claims it will retaliate.
Speaker Pelosi was due to visit Taiwan, an independent democratic state that China claims is a “rebel province,” in April. However, she had to delay the trip after testing positive for COVID-19. Now she plans to go in August — but Beijing is already protesting and issuing threats.
According to China, Pelosi’s visit would “severely undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and damage US-China relations, as well as send “a seriously wrong signal” to the island nation itself. Beijing has vowed to take action if the visit goes ahead but didn’t specify what that action might be. China’s usual response is to launch more warplanes to intrude into Taiwanese airspace or run military exercises based on an invasion scenario.
China is also demanding that the US cancel a major arms sale to Taiwan, which is aimed at boosting the island’s ability to fight off an invasion attempt. Considering the difference western weapons are making in Ukraine, the fact China doesn’t want more in Taiwan shows it sees an invasion as a serious option.
Will the Biden Administration stand firm and let Pelosi’s visit go ahead as planned, or back down in the face of the communist country’s threats?
