Nancy Pelosi is in Taiwan. I would tell you this but let's be honest, you probably knew it was in the works considering the fact that there has been plenty of speculation over social media and in the news. Everyone has been up and arms regarding the colossal implications that this will have for Taiwan and China. China has been getting more and more worked up and the US trying to drastically re-assure China whilst trying to posture themselves as a superpower whose policies cannot be forcefully shaped by China. In the middle of this, you have Taiwan. A country has not been recognized as sovereign but as a subsidiary of a country that it tried to escape from since the later part of the 21st Century. With all these moving parts set in the backdrop of increasing US-China tensions, fears are once rising on whether or not this will be the action that spirals into World War 3. In today's edition of D&D, we will be exploring the true purpose of Pelosi's Visit.
Without Taiwan, Nancy Pelosi's Asia tour would have probably been met with some criticism by the Chinese and ended there. However, the inclusion of Taiwan into the tour has drastically upped the ante for it. The Asia tour is basically meant to re-affirm ties with Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Since the divide between the 2 largest superpowers in the world is growing larger and larger each day, the Americans envision some form of a Cold War taking place- meaning that the countries will be splitting themselves into blocs. Thus, this was meant to be more of a reminder to the above-mentioned Asian countries about which global superpower they should support in the coming days.
However, upon deeper inspection, recognise that the 3rd most powerful person in the US government cannot simply decide on a whim when she wants to visit a heavily contested territory(that is exactly what Taiwan is). This trip was pre-planned with Taiwan as the priority. A solo trip to Taiwan by the 3rd most powerful person in the US government would seem like a naked act of aggression to the PRC and will definitely trigger harsh counter-measures. Hence, they attempted to disguise it under the premise of an Asian Tour so as damp down any such perceptions which is why even though China sees through this act they continue to try and re-assure China that they are still in line with the one china policy. (Who is going to buy that?)
America has both political and strategic interests in Taiwan. The political interest is that in the backdrop of the growing tensions, Taiwan has become a key symbolic ground in the US. China and the US have a strong political rivalry. The US is a believer in democracy and the Chinese one in communism. This rivalry has been intensified by the fact that China is a burgeoning superpower attempting to compete and surpass America. This is where Taiwan comes in. Taiwan has always been a sore spot for China since the founders of Taiwan fought the civil war in China with the PRC. Hence, it has always vexed the PRC, since the ROC escaped before they could be defeated. The problem here is that Taiwan is seen by China as an illegal offshoot and it seeks to forcefully re-unify with it. In the post-cold-war world America as the global superpower is seen as the protector of democracy and freedom.
To make matters worse, America despite agreeing to not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign country, has still been supporting Taiwan and in recent years encouraging it to fight for its independence, inadvertently tying Taiwan's independence to its sphere of influence. But as we all saw in Afghanistan (where despite making thousands of promises and spending drastically more dollars) and in Ukraine (No explanation needed there), it still fell to the Taliban-the idea of American Exceptionalism is fast crumbling which is what makes Taiwan even more important in the political battle. If Taiwan falls to China despite America's promise to protect it, China will be seen as the superior global power. This will have serious ramifications on the rest of the world's foreign policy especially those who look to America for protection as they consider whether or not to embrace America or shift to China instead.
There is also American strategic interest in China. The first easily noticeable thing is the close geographical proximity between Taiwan and China. This means that in the event of any conflict with China, the US should be able to use Taiwan as a military base and mobilise missiles and weapons that will be able to more accurately target key areas in China. However, this is not a big deal since while it is always dangerous to have an enemy nation close to your border, in all honesty, America does not have bases in Taiwan anymore and any mobilisation will take time and probably be caught by the Chinese satellites. The real threat is actually to America's sphere of influence. Western experts believe that if Taiwan is taken over by China, it would be free to project power in the western pacific region and could threaten US military bases as far as Guam and Hawaii. Hence, suggests why America has good reason to keep Taiwan away from Chinese predatory influence. On top of that, Taiwan is one of the world's largest suppliers of semiconductors. These semiconductors are integral to the global supply of chips, moment, we are making rapid technological advancements and these semi-conductors are price-less, thus whoever controls Taiwan controls the chips and hence is able to gain leverage over the world's economic and technological growth. (Because to be honest that is exactly what monopoly over the semi-conductors will do for a superpower)
So yes, if you were wondering why Pelosi went to Taiwan, she was there in an attempt(definitely not a strong one) to secure American aims. Now, you might be thinking, that while those are sound reasons why America should keep Taiwan away from China's influence, Pelosi going to Taiwan is not really an effective way to do so. But we will just have to wait for the next edition of D&D to see why despite the purpose being justified the action executed was, well, to put it lightly, utterly moronic and reckless.
Comments