Opinion | How Nancy Pelosi changed the Taiwan Strait status quo in Beijing’s favour
- The US Speaker’s misguided trip to Taiwan has backfired on both Washington and Taipei
- It has given Beijing a chance to show off its military capabilities, while providing an incentive to ramp up reunification efforts and show that the Taiwan issue matters above all else
Pelosi, one of the US’ highest-ranking legislators and second in line to the presidency, has gained little more than some limelight before her retirement. Her Taiwan visit was widely considered unnecessarily provocative. Even The Washington Post, which published her op-ed explaining why she would make the trip, published an editorial that can hardly be misunderstood: “The damage from Pelosi’s unwise Taiwan visit must be contained”.
Two target zones were placed inside Taiwan’s “territorial waters” and dozens of fighter planes were flown across the median line in the Taiwan Strait, as a show of disregard for that boundary. For the first time, missiles were fired over the island.
With these measures, the People’s Liberation Army has proven it could coordinate operations to impose a full blockade should it ever choose to. It has progressed from the much smaller missile firing exercises conducted during the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait crisis. Those exercises were meant to send a warning to then Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui after his visit to the US.
