US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has left the world perplexed. Despite China’s repeated warning, the visit happened to challenge China. On landing in Taiwan, Pelosi took to Twitter: “Our delegation’s visit to Taiwan honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant Democracy."
“America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy,” she further twitted meaning to defend and promote the democracy of Taiwan – one of the war fronts of Biden administration against the countries and regions where US-like democracy is absent. It started last year when the US irked China by inviting Taiwan to a democracy summit.
The third most US senior government official, whose key affairs is parliament, arrived in Taipei at night switching off airport lights and having deployed strong military establishments in nearby regions. The question remains how democracy can be benefited from such a guerrilla visit. The question comes whether Pelosi's Taiwan trip is worth the consequences.
China's foreign ministry lodged a protest in the strongest terms with the United States and said Pelosi's visit would severely impact the political foundations of China-US relations. China tried to stop the visit through diplomatic means but the US chose not to pay attention. The Biden administration has not also been transparent about the high-ranked visit since the information of the visit leaked in news media. China asserted repeatedly that Taiwan is an inalienable territory of the People’s Republic of China.
China's assertion has been clearly recognised by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. Some181 countries have established diplomatic relations with China on the basis of the One China principle since the founding of the PRC in 1949. The One China principle is a universal consensus of the international community and a basic norm in international relations.
According to China, the United States has violated its previous position as US made a clear commitment in 1979 in the China-U.S. Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations -- "The United States of America recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China.”
Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan, according to the Communiqué.
The world economy, especially that of countries like Bangladesh, has already been reeling from pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. It appears that the US wants to provoke China into another war with Taiwan. By now, everybody knows that the most benefited country from the Russia-Ukraine war is the United States. Europe is now more dependent than ever on the US for its energy, security and commodities.
Taiwan is not the only apple of discord between the US and China. They are the first and the second in many parameters of strengths including economy and military power. There is a growing fear that US-China relations have the potential to turn very unpleasant with significant consequences for the global economy.
However, China, one of the oldest civilizations, has responded with comparatively calmer actions which are praiseworthy. The world economy will not experience another war if China engages in it as the country is actually the largest hub of the global supply chain.
The military exercises that Beijing has ordered in response to Pelosi’s visit will not do any harm- which US might have expected- but China will have a chance to put on a show of military strength and leave it at that.
However, many countries have already come up with support for the One-China principle and denounced the visit.
Bangladesh on Thursday reiterated her firm adherence to the One-China principle, which it has been following since the establishment of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
According to a Global Times report, dozens of countries including Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and Vietnam expressed their support and solidarity with the One-China principle. So Nancy Pelosi's visit in fact reasserted China’s position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.
The writer is a journalist.