Taiwan

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Pelosi’s Flying Visit to Taiwan Sends US China Relations into Tailspin

Beijing launches massive war games and cancels Sino-US talks “Welcome to China!” With those three words, or some six Chinese characters, the PRC might have landed a PR masterstroke just as US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi touched down in the ROC on 2 August for a fleeting but highly consequential Taiwan visit, one that US President Joe Biden, let alone Beijing, didn’t want her to make. Hunkered down in Zhongnanhai’s Situation Room (one imagines – Beijing doesn’t release White House-style crisis photographs), Xi Jinping ignored Twitter users’ free advice and jokes about managing Sino-US relations. Instead, China’s Party boss and commander-in-chief had his military and foreign ministry go big on outrage, to warn the US against supporting “Taiwanese independence”, and to remind the island’s residents that his Party will never let them go. China had warned of “serious preparations” ahead of Pelosi becoming the most senior US official…

As Russia Wages War in Ukraine, Taiwan Fears China Invasion

Vladimir Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine continues to shock the world and move markets everywhere. These global tremors also highlight the difficult but crucial relationship between two non-combatants, the USA and China, who may one day face off over Taiwan. A conflict over Taiwan is the lightening rod that investors can no longer ignore. For Beijing views the self-ruled island off its southeast coast very much as Vladimir Putin sees Ukraine: sovereign territory that has broken away but must be returned to the motherland. And the USA will likely defend Taiwan against a mainland Chinese invasion. When US President Joe Biden flew to Europe on March 23, to meet allies and keep setting the agenda on the war in Ukraine, China’s perceived support for Russia’s war was expected to feature at all his meetings with the European Council, NATO and the Group of 7 nations. In Brussels, Biden reiterated his…

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