After advising Pelosi not to travel to Taiwan, a self-governing island that communist China views as its own property, China declared that it will undertake live-fire drills in the Strait.
The People’s Revolutionary Army (PLA) will undertake “live-fire drills” in the narrowest portions of the Taiwan Strait, fewer than 80 miles from the island of Taiwan, according to a July 28 announcement by China’s Maritime Safety Agency.
The military drills are the most recent in a series of increasing confrontations involving China, the United States, and its partners.
Here, neither nuclear giant is openly backing down after reports surfaced that Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the US House of Representatives, scheduled a trip to Taiwan.
If true, Biden $ Pelosi blinked and this will ensure that Red China will invade Taiwanhttps://t.co/Cblf8ZQltv
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) July 31, 2022
Ever since Newt Gingrich’s trip in 1997, Pelosi is the top sitting U.S. official to visit the autonomous island of Taiwan. Due to security concerns, Pelosi’s office chose not to confirm or refute the Speaker’s impending foreign travel.
China Responds
The military drills are the result of the communist government’s increasing agitation over the “One China Policy” of the US, which deviates from the demands made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its “One China principle.”
Taiwan requests recognition as a sovereign state on the international stage, pointing to its own democratically elected leader, laws, and armed forces.
Since no peace treaty was ever negotiated to put an end to the civil war in China between nationalists and Marxists, the CCP and the Taiwanese state are currently at war.
The Chinese military “has the ability to” utilize tactical obstacles and fire shots into the air at Pelosi’s aircraft and any escorting U.S. fighter jets, Hu Xinjin, the former chief editor of the communist government’s Global Times, warned on July 29.
Hu said, “Shoot them down if unsuccessful.”
A visit by Pelosi to Taiwan, according to Zhao Lijian, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, would “seriously undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“It would affect the political foundation of China trade relations and give the wrong message to Taiwan’s pro-independence powers.”
Zhao stated, “China would undoubtedly take determined and powerful measures if America chooses to go its own path.”
U.S. Responds
Congressmembers from both parties in the US have been urging Pelosi to travel.
Map of West Taiwan pic.twitter.com/FE2XJsKQfV
— Terrible Maps (@TerribleMaps) July 20, 2022
Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, as well as GOP Rep. Michael McCaul, both ranking members on the House Foreign Relations Committee, confirmed to NBC News they both received invitations from the speaker’s office to join her on her visit to Taiwan.
“Any member who wishes to travel should do so. It serves as political intimidation against President Xi,” McCaul told the media organization.
Rep. Jim McGovern told the news organization “someone should not travel somewhere because the Chinese government is guilty of crimes against humanity speaking in frightening tones.”
