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Taiwan
OpinionComment
Peter Kammerer
Peter Kammerer

Shades Off | Thanks to Pelosi, the US has taken a dangerous step towards strategic clarity over Taiwan

  • Strategic ambiguity has for years been Washington’s way of staying on side with both Beijing and Taipei
  • Biden was shuffling away from the one-China policy; Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan took matters a step further, giving Beijing every reason to respond

Reading Time:3 minutes
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US House speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen wave during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Taipei City on August 3. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Palace/dpa
Peter Kammerer

Thank you, Nancy Pelosi. Those of us who wish the Taiwan issue would be resolved once and for all have the United States speaker of the House of Representatives to be grateful to for making their dreams come true.

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By ignoring Beijing’s repeated warnings not to visit the island and going ahead with her trip last week, she has given reason for a resolute show of People’s Liberation Army force. Things will never be the same for those who have played the game of “strategic ambiguity”.
The subsequent military exercises by the PLA around Taiwan are unprecedented. There is nothing the Taiwanese or American militaries can do other than observe; to intervene could too easily start skirmishes that evolve into full-blown war. Once a door like this has been opened, it can’t be closed. Beijing has been given an excuse to do within its sovereign territory what it wants and there can be no turning back.

Matters would have been different if Pelosi had not been so determined to poke Beijing in the eye. But her meeting with independence-minded Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen and speech to the island’s parliament were about pushing an anti-Chinese Communist Party agenda that stretches back decades.

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US House Speaker Pelosi meets Taiwanese president, officials and activists on controversial visit

US House Speaker Pelosi meets Taiwanese president, officials and activists on controversial visit

In 1991, during a visit to Beijing, she broke away from her official delegation to unfurl a banner on Tiananmen Square to honour mass protests crushed by the government two years earlier. She has since opposed the Chinese leadership at every turn, earning its contempt and wrath.

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“Strategic ambiguity” has been Washington’s plan of action to keep on side with Beijing and Taipei at the same time. Neither side can be sure of American military involvement should conflict break out across the Taiwan Strait.
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