House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit has provoked praise and criticism from some strange bedfellows on both sides.
Reports indicate that the U.S. military would’ve preferred Pelosi to stay out of Taiwan so as to avoid provoking any conflict with China. The Biden administration has been generally ambivalent though publically says it supports her decision. Reports indicate, however, that privately the Biden team wishes she would avoid the visit altogether.
Former President Donald Trump said Pelosi should stay out of the country and not cause more problems in U.S.-China relations, but former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served under Trump, applauded Pelosi’s visit and offered to join her in a bi-partisan show of unity.
China itself has been threatening military action and beefing up warplanes and naval forces off the coast of Taiwan as a threat or deterrent. CNN reports on Pelosi’s arrival:
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei on Tuesday, marking a significant show of support for Taiwan despite China’s threats of retaliation over the visit.
Pelosi’s stop in Taipei is the first time that a US House speaker has visited Taiwan in 25 years. Her trip comes at a low point in US-China relations and despite warnings from the Biden administration against a stop in Taiwan. A Taiwanese official told CNN that Pelosi is expected to stay in Taipei overnight.
Pelosi and the congressional delegation that accompanied her said in a statement on Tuesday that the visit “honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy.”
Just minutes ago, Pelosi stepped off the plane in Taiwan:
First video of Nancy Pelosi in #Taiwan after landing. pic.twitter.com/G7xBr35OOn
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 2, 2022
As noted above, MAGA world split over the trip with Trump saying Pelosi would “make things worse” between the United States and China:
Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that “the China mess is the last thing she should be involved in — She will only make it worse.”
“Everything she touches,” he wrote, “turns to Chaos, Disruption, and ‘Crap.’
On the other hand, Mike Pompeo, an ardent Trump ally, used the opportunity to praise Pelosi’s trip and also slam the Biden administration for showing weakness to China:
.@SpeakerPelosi. Nancy, I'll go with you. I'm banned in China, but not freedom-loving Taiwan. See you there!
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) July 24, 2022
Because they clearly need a refresher course, here’s Foreign Policy 101 for Team Biden:
Appeasement = weakness
Deterrence = strength— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) August 2, 2022
China has threatened all kinds of military action and has posted several videos of missiles and might on various social media platforms as attempts to discourage Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, or at least appear as if they’re upset:
Beijing has been furious for months over the reported visit, which would mark the first time in 25 years that an American House Speaker visited the island.
Any trip by Pelosi “will greatly threaten peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, severely undermine China-US relations and lead to a very serious situation and grave consequences,” senior Chinese diplomat Liu Xiaoming tweeted late Monday night. Liu’s statement reflected the tone and tenor of weeks’ worth of warnings and threats that have emanated from Beijing.
On Tuesday, China escalated this rhetoric with a series of actions, starting with the announcement of new import bans on certain Taiwanese products. Shortly afterward, Reuters reported that several Chinese warplanes had flown close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
Hours later, a major Taiwanese media outlet reported that the island’s own military would be on heightened alert in response to Chinese live fire exercises being held in anticipation of Pelosi’s reported visit.
The last House Speaker to visit Taiwan was Newt Gingrich back in 1997, an event that brought similar saber rattling and threats from the Chinese Communist Party even back then.
Gingrich recently accused China of “bluffing” military action against the United States over Pelosi’s trip just like it did back in the 90s:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Tuesday called China’s threats over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) trip to Taiwan a “bluff.”
Gingrich said on “Fox & Friends” that he dealt with a similar situation when he visited China and Taiwan in 1997. Gingrich was the last House Speaker to visit the self-governing island.
He said China invited him to visit and make speeches in Shanghai and Beijing, but they “went crazy” when they learned he also planned to visit Taiwan. He said his national security adviser told the Chinese ambassador that the Chinese government does not decide where the House Speaker travels, and if Gingrich needs to decide, he would choose to go to Taiwan and not China.
Gingrich said the two sides worked out a deal in which Gingrich would travel to China to give his speeches but then go to Japan before visiting Taiwan so he would not go directly from China to Taiwan.
“They backed down,” he said. “Their current bluff is just that.”
It’s unlikely any of the Chinese threats of violence threats of military action will amount to more than empty bluffs, as Gingrich suggested.
What will come of Pelosi’s visit remains to be seen. The rarity of seeing Trump allies supporting Pelosi and those within her own party criticizing the visit makes for interesting domestic politics in this highly partisan era.
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