Last summer, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei gave China a pretext to launch a demonstration military operation around Taiwan.
For ten days, the island was actually exposed to Naval blockade By the Navy and Air Force of the People’s Republic of China.
She is now the President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen to plan sortie in the United Stateskisa: guesswork has already been caused Preemptive protest from Beijing.
It’s a sensitive issue.
That President Tsai It will not be an official visit, just a stopover on the way to Central AmericaGuatemala and Belize are two of the fifteen countries in the world that officially recognize the government of Taiwan and have full diplomatic relations.
as it’s known, United State (and almost the entire international community, including the United Nations) They adhere to the “One China” principle, that is, Beijing.
With the democratic island there are only “commercial relations” (officially).
A short “stop”, for a day or two, by a Taiwanese president in an American city is not usually a cause for excessive displeasure on the part of Beijing. The White House always avoids close confrontations and Taiwan’s leaders stay away from Washington.
this time, Mrs. Tsai has to expand the circle, moving from Los Angeles to New York. The Minister of Overseas Communities Affairs made the stopover in New York this morning at the Taipei Parliament. The last time the president was in New York was in 2019, when she participated in a debate at Columbia University. Beijing protested, and Taipei responded that it was a free-speech tour in favor of democracy.
This time though, Ms. Tsai can meet with Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Pelosi’s successor Speaker of the US House of Representatives. We still live in the mindless chasing each other between the two sides of the Pacific Ocean.
We have to see If the Biden administration moves to reduce severe tension with Beijing Or on the contrary He will seize the opportunity to stand up to Xi Jinping in a new bid across the Taiwan Straits (As the Chinese continue to carry out military activities every day).
McCarthy would like to repeat the demonstration landing in Taipei, but has chosen not to participate for now He will be content to shake hands with President Tsai during the “technical stop” on American soil.
However, Beijing still says it is “extremely concerned”. And asked Washington for “clarifications”. Government sources in Taipei expected stops in Los Angeles and New York, even if the presidency took its time and hid behind the formula “We still plan the travel agenda and transit agreements have been the norm for years.” The assignment should take place in April.
We can bet (and fear) that Beijing escalates tension and leads to spring warming in the Taiwan Strait.