Taiwan is a part of China and the 1.4 billion Chinese will not tolerate any challenges to the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart, Joe Biden, in a phone call on Thursday. Xi’s warning comes amid reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing to visit the island next month, something Beijing has warned her against.

Xi “highlighted that the historical ins and outs of the Taiwan question are crystal clear, and so are the fact and status quo that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China,” according to Beijing’s readout of Thursday’s call, also noting that Biden was the one who initiated it.

China is firmly opposed to Taiwanese separatism and will not tolerate “independence” for the island “in whatever form,” Xi told Biden, in the first direct call between the two leaders since March 18.

hose who play with fire will perish by it. It is hoped that the US will be clear-eyed about this.

According to the readout, Xi also told Biden that the US approach to China as the primary rival, strategic competitor, and a security challenge “would be misperceiving China-US relations and misreading China’s development,” adding that US attempts at “decoupling or severing supply chains in defiance of underlying laws” would not help its economy, but “only make the world economy more vulnerable.”

China and the US need to “uphold the international system centering on the UN and the international order underpinned by international law,” said Xi, who also “reiterated China’s principled position” on the crisis in Ukraine.

 

The much shorter White House readout of the call did not mention Ukraine or the specifics of economic discussions, instead singling out the issues of “climate change and health security.” It did, however, say that the call was “part of the Biden Administration’s efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication between the United States and the PRC and responsibly manage our differences and work together where our interests align.”

When it comes to Taiwan, Biden “underscored that the US policy has not changed and that the US strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” according to the White House.

Tensions between China and the US have escalated in recent weeks, after reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) intended to take a congressional delegation to Taiwan in August. 

Pelosi has neither confirmed nor denied the trip. Asked about it earlier this month, Biden said the US military thought it was “not a good idea right now.”

Since then, however, the Pentagon has reportedly developed a “contingency plan” to send additional ships and fighter jets to the region. Meanwhile, Chinese officials threatened the US with “unbearable consequences” should Pelosi go forward with her visit, and some pundits even advocated attacking Taiwan in response to such a “provocation.”

House Speaker Newt Gingrich visited Taiwan in 1997, but as government officials in Beijing have noted, he was opposition leader at the time, while Pelosi is from the same party as Biden. 

Taiwan has been ruled by the nationalist Kuomintang, who found refuge on the island after losing the civil war to the Communists in 1949 and leaving the mainland with US help.

 

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning to travel to Taiwan, an island regarded by Beijing as an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China (PRC), as a leg of a broader Asia trip. Even though Pelosi has yet to confirm the visit, tensions have escalated sharply between the US and the PRC.

"Remember what happened in 1983? Two days after 241 Marines were blown up in Lebanon, the USA invaded tiny Grenada. Overnight, the previous headlines disappeared. I think we are seeing the same today. NATO is losing badly in Ukraine and it’s going to be a long winter for the West. Pounding its imperial chest with Taiwan is now what the MSM is reporting, much less so Ukraine," suggests Jeff J. Brown, author of "The China Trilogy," editor at China Rising Radio Sinoland, and curator of the Bioweapon Truth Commission.

If Pelosi travels to Taiwan, this would be the first time a high-ranking US politician visits the place in 25 years. Last time it was Newt Gingrich, then-speaker of the US House of Representatives, who arrived on the island in 1997, ignoring the Chinese leadership's discontent.

"I said firmly, 'We want you to understand, we will defend Taiwan. Period,'" Gingrich told the press at the time, as quoted by The New York Times. However, Clinton administration officials made it clear that Gingrich "was speaking for himself."

Likewise, it appears that Pelosi's apparent visit to Taiwan is not in line with the Biden administration's China policy, argues Francesco Sisci, a Beijing-based China expert, author, and columnist.

 

"American politics is not set like an omniscient Leviathan," the China expert says. "The Congress, the Senate, the executive all move according to different agendas which do not often coincide and are in conflict with one another. The issue is that there is a growing anti-Beijing sentiment in America and this has sometimes bursts which aren’t fully sorted out. I believe the visit is an expression of a sentiment, rather than of a clear cut plan."

 

According to CNN, Pelosi's initiative has triggered concerns both in the Biden administration and the Pentagon, with US national security officials "quietly working to convince House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the risks of her potential trip to Taiwan." While in 1997 Beijing and Washington managed to solve the dilemma, this time the PRC leadership might opt for a harsher response, CNN and The Guardian have warned.

 

Washington has been fanning US-Sino tensions for quite a while, starting with Donald Trump's tariff war against Beijing, which has yet to be halted by Joe Biden. In a candid phone conversation, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his American counterpart against "playing with fire" over Taiwan and explained that any involvement would ultimately backfire on the US.

 

"A Chinese general has publicly declared that Pelosi’s visit could entail a military response from Beijing," Brown says. "China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeated this. Now, with Xi’s 'You get burned playing with fire' metaphor, I think there would be a military response."

 

Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Defense, stated on July 26: "If the US insists on taking its own course, the Chinese military will never sit idly by, and it will definitely take strong actions to thwart any external force's interference."

Tan highlighted that Pelosi's visit to Taiwan would "seriously violate the one-China principle" and "seriously harm China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and seriously damage the political foundation of China-US relations."

Meanwhile, Brown surmises that China's hypothetical response "might include a declared no-fly zone." However, there is a "much more elegant option," according to the author:

"[China could] take over Taiwan’s Kinmen Island, which is only two kilometers from Xiamen, off China’s Fujian Province coast. It would take only a few hours. I do not think Beijing will strike any US targets, unless attacked first."

 

The scholar also does not rule out that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) remark, made earlier this week, that Pyongyang is “fully prepared” for any military conflict with the United States is no coincidence.

 

"Does Biden know that China and nuclear-armed North Korea have had a mutual defense treaty since 1961?" Brown asks rhetorically. "NATO is being bled dry in Ukraine and it is imperial folly, hubris or geopolitical brinkmanship to think it can fight East Asia’s biggest and most powerful military, which is only 200 km from Taiwan."

 

For his part, Sisci believes that the PRC could opt for an asymmetrical non-military response. Still, the unfolding crisis is complicated by the fact that Washington is already involved in a confrontation with Russia, raising questions as to whether the US is capable of taking on Moscow and Beijing at once.

"I don’t think that either China or the US wants an escalation," says Sisci. "The talk between Biden and Xi Jinping was to avoid an escalation."

Brown also believes that Beijing's warnings have been heard by Washington.

 

"Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has been bandied about by Washington for months now," he says. "A supposed Covid-19 infection scuttled the first trial balloon. After Biden’s phone call yesterday with Xi, I suspect another American 'postponement' is likely to occur. If not, then 'Katy, bar the door!'"

 

 

 

 

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PELOSI IS AN IDIOT CUNNING WOMAN. 

 

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By Timur Fomenko, political analyst 

 

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi appears to be on the verge of a trip to Taiwan, an event which China has vowed to respond to with “forceful measures.” The visit is a rehash of one she originally intended to undertake in April, but was prevented from doing so when she tested positive for Covid-19. Should it go ahead, it would constitute the first visit by a US house speaker to the island in 25 years. The last one was Republican Newt Gingrich, but the critical difference was that he did so as an opposition politician to then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.  

This time around, Pelosi, as part of the majority party, is reportedly leading a delegation on an Asian tour at a time of unprecedented tensions. The trip also coincides with the anniversary of the founding of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which falls on August 1. Although President Joe Biden, as well as the US military, have voiced objections to the venture, this does not seem to have deterred Pelosi as of yet, with Republican hardliners now cheering her on and saying that the US will appear weak if she backs down.

This creates an extremely unfortunate dilemma, especially considering a Thursday phone call between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which Xi warned Washington not to “play with fire” regarding Taiwan. But in reality, such talk has rarely meant anything given the US has, when it comes to serious actions, never been truly willing to de-escalate tensions with China, act pragmatically, or with common sense. While it is true that Pelosi is technically not the administration and would not be going there on their behalf, nonetheless, the fact this event is happening signifies how unhinged the broader spectrum of US foreign policy has become. There is no restraint whatsoever or respect for the red lines of other countries, only the push for maximalist aims at all costs.

Many people thought former President Donald Trump was insane and chaotic, yet an unspoken truth is that American foreign policy has actually regressed further under Biden. While Trump pursued narrow self-interests in the name of ‘America first’, which offended friends and foes alike, the Biden administration has not only embraced this doctrine, but refined it into an ideological crusade which strives to force American hegemony on every single front in a way that is both zealous and uncompromising. We should not be dismissive of Trump’s remarks that, if he were president, the conflict in Ukraine would not be happening right now, and he probably would have cut a deal to prevent it.

As a result, the US has continued to deride and press against China’s red line on the Taiwan issue, while at the same time officially claiming at the presidential level its policy remains the same to reassure China. This is a strategy that has been described as ‘Salami Slicing’ by Beijing, which endeavours to gradually shift the status quo towards Taiwan independence, while claiming not to do so to avoid strategic upsets that can create conflict. It is provocative, yet subtle. However, what Biden has not accounted for is the fact that Congress has even less restraint than he does. The onslaught of propaganda concerning US support for Ukraine has made many overconfident in the belief that China has been made to ‘think twice’ over Taiwan, and as a result, ultra-hawks, especially in Congress, are now happy to push this button further in believing they can call Beijing’s bluff.

But if this visit happens, will it lead to war? This might be an overreaction for many obvious reasons. China will not invade Taiwan should Nancy Pelosi visit. However, such a situation nonetheless forces Beijing into a corner to retaliate in a way which re-legitimizes its claim over the island and prevents political humiliation. If their bluff is called, their red line loses credibility, and the logic of deterrence means something has to be done to re-establish equilibrium. Therefore, when promising countermeasures, China means what it says. However, it remains unclear to what extent exactly Beijing will go to address this.

One thing that is obvious, looking at Taiwan Strait crises in the past, is that China will probably pursue large scale military exercises of some sort. The US is already responding to this by moving military assets into the area. However, there is also speculation Beijing may movefurther by declaring a ‘no-fly zone’ over the island or making a similar move which dramatically heightens the risk of confrontation. Remember, when Mike Pompeo sent UN Ambassador Kelly Craft to visit Taiwan on their last week in office, the flight was cancelled at the last moment after warnings from Beijing. This time around, China will undoubtedly react somehow, yet Pelosi and her supporters seem to think they can ridicule this, just like it was believed Russia’s red line over Ukraine could similarly be ignored.

Ultimately, this only goes to show that US foreign policy has degenerated into a form of strategic insanity. Fearing a loss of status over rival states, the country’s political class has become increasingly reckless and destructive in the moves it is willing to make to retain its hegemony. Even if this Pelosi visit does not result in open conflict, which it likely won’t, the damage it will do to strategic trust as a whole will likely be permanent, and could set the stage for conflict further down the line, something many voices in Washington seem to relish.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

 

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MEANWHILE:

Biden is running in 2024 – White House

 

Despite plummeting polls and Democratic defections, the 79-year old will apparently stand for reelection... RUNNING? Not even a canter but possibly a shuffle, pushed by decrepit Democrats who think Jo is a notch above crap.  This is the fairy tale — the Nightmare in Washington — with the the old witch and the lousy sorcerer who can't do incantations to the good sauce, but stir the big pot of hypocrisy …. 

 

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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may arrive in Taiwan on Tuesday, a local TV news station claimed on Monday. Reservations for the US delegation headed by one of the most senior officials in the country have been made at a five-star hotel, TVBS News said, citing sources.

According to the report, Pelosi and her entourage are to stay at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei’s eastern governmental Xinyi District. Relevant security arrangements have been taken to ensure her safety, the outlet said.

Reservations have also been made in a different hotel in the Zhongshan District, the report added, citing rumors.

Pelosi’s possible visit to the self-governed Chinese island has triggered angry reaction from Beijing, which said Washington was “playing with fire” and may “get burned” as a consequence.

 

 

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SEE ALSO: https://www.rt.com/news/559975-pelosi-china-taiwan-us/

 

 

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