Advertisement
Taiwan
OpinionComment
Liu Guangyuan
Liu Guangyuan

Opinion | With Pelosi’s Taiwan trip, the US betrays the one-China principle

  • While Washington claims Congress acts on it own, the US must fulfil its international obligations
  • In ultimately allowing Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, the US is exacerbating tensions across the Taiwan Strait and jeopardising peace in the region

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
38
Pro-reunification activists display banners reading “Get out” as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park in New Taipei on August 3. Photo: AFP
Liu Guangyuan
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ill-disposed visit to Taiwan on August 2 and 3, in defiance of worldwide condemnation, violated the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, badly impacted the political foundation of China-US relations, infringed on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and severely undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Advertisement

The appalling nature of her visit has led to serious indignation among Chinese people and opposition from the international community.

Pelosi has long been a notorious figure – and her actions are a political plague – viewing China for decades through glasses tinted with deep ideological prejudice. On the pretext of promoting democracy and human rights, she has a tarnished record of interfering in China’s internal affairs, such as on issues about Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, religion and human rights.

Despite stern opposition from the Chinese side, Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan to look like a “guardian of democracy”. The real purpose of the trip was to seek political capital, prepare her political legacy and feed her political ambition. It once again laid bare her political self-interest and anti-China paranoia.

For some time, the US government has chosen the wrong words and gestures on the Taiwan question and tried to hollow out the one-China principle. Although many in American government and society stressed that Pelosi’s visit would cause a major risk to the Taiwan Strait situation and have serious repercussions for US-China relations, in the end, however, the US side still gave the green light to Pelosi’s misbegotten trip. Effectively, the Americans connived to put on a two-man show.
Advertisement

Washington claims Congress acts on it own through the separation of powers, but people know that, under international law, the US must fulfil its international obligations and refrain from acting wantonly. This especially applies to key political figures. Pelosi is the Speaker of the US House of Representatives and her visit to Taiwan for any reason is a betrayal of the one-China policy that the US government is committed to.

03:13

Xi warns Biden that US ‘playing with fire’ as tensions soar over Pelosi’s proposed Taiwan visit

Xi warns Biden that US ‘playing with fire’ as tensions soar over Pelosi’s proposed Taiwan visit
Advertisement