That is the question that essentially boils down most US-China conflicts. It is true even in this case regarding Taiwan. In the previous edition of DND, we touched on why Taiwan was important to the US and any possible reasons that Pelosi has for stirring the pot. Now, we have all heard the intense and aggressive reactions from China regarding Pelosi's trip (from shooting down planes to launching new military drills), but while the instinctive question that jumps to your mind is why, another key question is from whom are these reactions coming from. In today's edition of DND, we will be breaking down where exactly are these reactions coming from, why are they so angry and what exactly needs to be done with future conflicts involving Taiwan.
Obviously, one of the main aggressors in this scenario is the Chinese Government. The PRC has always been of the stance that Taiwan belongs to them ever since the founding of Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War in the 1950s. It was a civil war between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). When the PRC won the Civil War, the ROC fled to Taiwan and established themselves there. ( A country they took control of on the behalf of the Allied Forces after Japan's defeat in 1945). Hence, because ROC fled to this day the Civil War has not ended and this infuriates the PRC who technically have not won the civil war since they have not been able to capture their enemies. On top of that as mentioned above, Taiwan was a province of China(The ROC was in control at the time) as of 1945 and when they lost the civil war the ROC broke away from Taiwan, technically stealing land that should have gone to the PRC when they took control of Taiwan. Hence, while PRC has always made attempts to re-absorb Taiwan, now that they are a burgeoning global superpower, they certainly have significantly more resources on hand to pursue this national interests. This can be seen from how they have used their economic powers to make sure few countries recognise Taiwan officially (essentially preventing Taiwan from having any official diplomatic relations with other countries). More recently, they have been more than happy to showcase their military powers through the staging of drills as well as bold threats from the upper levels of the political class like generals and Xi himself.
While you might think that the Chinese government would be the main aggressors, the Chinese people have had similarly antagonistic reactions. In the days leading up to Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the Weibo users in China have reacted in shocking ways. A few notable comments that garnered millions of views were "1.4 billion people do not agree with any interference in China’s sovereignty issues" and "The U.S and Taiwan are playing with fire by forming a partnership and acting provocatively. They will burn themselves eventually". On top of that there were slurs thrown around about Pelosi namely "old witch" and "unhinged hag". Now while this kind of attitude might seem surprising, in reality, it really should have been expected. Xi has been building up his cult of personality for quite a while now. Xi has shone CCP's history through purely positive lenses setting up tours and museums that people can go and visit.In fact, according to the New York times in 2019, 1.4 billion people visited this "red museum" embracing the party's (glorious) history and crediting it with improving their lives.
On top of that, the Publicity Department of the CCP is hard at work as well often planning parades to celebrate Xi or/and the country's progress as well censoring or damping down anything that they feel would mold Chinese culture in ways that they do not like. This is done through rigorous control of the media organisa . She has been actively antagonistic towards China even during her first term in office. Where she vehemently opposed the normalisation of relations with China. Her personal anti-china rhetoric is so strong that it took her all the way to Tiananmen Square where she unfurled anti CCP banners in 1990 as well as is incredibly outspoken regarding China's Human Rights Record. nd nearly 50 hours of training on Marxism, the role of CCP leadership in the media, copyright law, libel law, national security law, regulations governing news content, and journalistic ethics prior to renewing press identification passes in 2003.The report states that media persoa clear threat to their interests in Taiwan. After all, a person with thies kind of rhetoric could only be working actively against them to split Taiwan from themn , thus making them act in a confrontational manner like you know say... threatening to blow up her plane if she flies to Taiwan.ought work", so yes, the CCP has boosting its citizens' nationalism slowly over decades and now the effects are becoming more and more visible. Click the video for an exaggerated illustration of how people internalise news. Context: News that immigrants could be terrorists.
However, another reason for the Chinese's extreme reactions is because of the person visiting. And no, I am not just talking about Nancy Pelosi's rank as the 3rd most power person in the United States, no Nancy Pelosi herself is not a very well liked person in China. (Not that she made much of an attempt to begin with) . She has been actively antagonistic towards China even during her first term in office.where she vehemently opposed the normalisation of relations with China. Her personal anti-china rhetoric is so strong that it took her all the way to Tianemmen Square where she unfurled anti CCP banners in 1990 as well as is incredibly outspoken regarding China's Human Rights Record. (Not that she is wrong but I highly doubt China was pleased with her whining). More recently, she has been heavily involved in the US Olympic Boycott for the Chinese hosted Winter Olympics,so you can only imagine, how pleased they were to have this kind of official visiting Taiwan,a clear threat to their interests in Taiwan. After all, a person with this kind of rhetoric could only signify that America is increasing its efforts to split Taiwan from them, thus making them act in a confrontational manner like you know say... threathening to blow up her plane if she flies to Taiwan as well launching missiles near Taiwan.
At the end of the day, if there is one thing we should all take away from this, it is the importance of clarity when it comes to foreign policy. The Chinese have been very clear on their stance on Taiwan, that has not changed. However, what is problematic is the US's behavior. It is one thing for the different parties to be of opposing to be of opposing ideology but it is a complete other thing to have the presidential administration on different pages. Biden called Nancy Pelosi's visit "Not a good idea" while this might seem relatively passive, it also clearly highlights that the President is not supportive of the trip to Taiwan and will encourage China to take actions namely the staging of a military drills as well as threats to blow up the plane in hopes on putting enough pressure on Biden to stop Pelosi's trip.
On top of that,it was absolute foolishness on Pelosi's part to try and build up suspense to whether or not she was going to Taiwan. It is common knowledge that Taiwan is an extremely sensitive topic for China and all this suspense and murkiness really did do was make them even more panicky and stressed which would have caused them to act impulsively. Moreover, by not taking a firm stance on Taiwan and conveniently allowing missiles to be launched near Taiwan, they are emboldening China to test the waters further. This is how war starts. Hitler expanded to Rhineland by marching in soldiers with instructions to retreat immediately if engaged. The allies allowed it. He slowly began taking over countries and the allies told him repeatedly to stop but he continued on regardless. Finally, when the allies told him that he should stop or risk war, he continued anyway convinced that he would be able to get out of it with little ramifications. His luck ran out the allies finally meant it and did something about it, just like that one of the largest deadliest conflicts known to man begun.
tl;dr US just pick a side, you are killing us literally.
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