Nancy Pelosi Taiwan Trip - A Dangerous Game

Recently the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi took a diplomatic trip to Taiwan. In her words, this was to make it “unequivocally clear” that the United States will not abandon Taiwan. Because of this visit, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the trip a “complete farce” and said, “those who play with fire will perish.” The question that arises from this is, did her trip to Taiwan do more harm than good?

Taiwanese Reception

During the trip, Speaker Pelosi met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and visited the island’s legislature. Pelosi praised the country's commitment to democracy and gave a large show of support to Taipei. When leaving Taiwan, Pelosi Tweeted that Taiwan’s democracy has our ironclad support. 

However, before Pelosi and congressional delegates left for the trip, Joe Biden and the U.S. military thought the trip was a bad idea and may cause unwanted tension between the United States and China. 

CCP Response to Pelosi's Visit

In response to Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, the CCP stated it would have a “severe impact” on all US-China relations. The Chinese also threatened to shoot down Nancy Pelosi’s plane as well. In addition, they immediately launched military exercises around Taiwan as a response. These “targeted military operations” were in direct response to the visit. 

Also, China’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Chinese military is on high alert. China is vowing to protect its “national sovereignty and territorial integrity” and Pelosi’s visit they feel is a direct threat to that.

What Were They Thinking?

It’s true that many U.S. government representatives have visited Taiwan so in itself it's not unusual. However, considering the already fractured U.S. and China relations, the Pelosi visit to Taiwan just exacerbates the problems. In addition, Iran and Syria released statements joining China in condemning the U.S. delegation’s visit bringing more factions to the world stage.

So why would she go?

Here are some things we’ve heard or read about why Nancy Pelosi made the trip:

• Joe and Nancy are old, senile, and don’t know what they are doing or saying
• Nancy went to Taiwan with her husband to check on their semiconductor investments
• This is another distraction and deflection to save the Democrats in the 2022 midterms
• This is a preconceived plot to get us into another proxy war, like Ukraine
• Nancy Pelosi is trying to seal her legacy before she is pushed out of Congress
• We are dependent on Taiwan and must show our strength and resolve to the CCP

And another thing, why was the “stop” made public? According to Senator Tom Cotton on Fox News, Joe Biden leaked the information about the trip. He refers to the Biden family's connections to China. Also, why even after being warned by her own military advisors and the President, did Nancy Pelosi still go to Taiwan?

Regardless, once the info was made public and put on the world stage, many across the country and across the aisle believed it was imperative that she didn’t back out. Others believe she should have backed out to reduce tensions. For their part, the Whitehouse subsequently played it down and deemed it a non-issue. 

A Dangerous game

There is no doubt that the visit did ruffle a lot of feathers. Could this be the tipping point to start military actions from China against Taiwan and potentially drag the United States into it? We do not know. In fact, it could make you dizzy trying to digest all of this.

We suspect that Speaker Pelosi got the recognition and attention she so desperately wants. One thing we’re pretty sure of, however, is that this is a dangerous game that didn’t need to be played. Its conception was another misjudgment by these Democrats in power making the world an even more dangerous place.