Nancy Pelosi and the Wolf Warrior By Howard Bloom

Nancy Pelosi’s August trip to Taiwan has not been scheduled yet, but it has already become much more than a diplomatic and fact-finding visit.

Tweets Hu Xijin, the former editor of one of China’s leading official media outlets, the Global Times: “It is certain that the mainland’s response to Pelosi’s visit will …involve shocking military response.”[i] Let me repeat that key phrase: “shocking military response.”

Why? Nancy Pelosi’s visit has become a showdown between two superpowers over which one will lead the global order for the rest of the 21^st century. And in this confrontation, it’s imperative that the United States not back down.

Here are the details. China claims that it owns Taiwan. No other countries, China says, should acknowledge Taiwan’s independent democratic government. No official of another government should meet with it.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi[ii] was originally scheduled to defy this Chinese edict and visit Taiwan in April but tested positive for Covid and had to postpone. Now it looks like her trip is on for August. Complete with visits to Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii.

There’s a special significance to this visit. Nancy Pelosi would be the highest ranking American politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years. As speaker of the house, she is third in line to the presidency. Which means that if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were to be abducted by aliens, Pelosi would become president.

Some press outlets are turning Pelosi’s trip into a test of Joe Biden’s courage. And others have implied that a trip by Pelosi could lead to a full scale war.

Biden made a courageous statement in Tokyo May 23rd when he said with great conviction that the US would defend Taiwan militarily.[iii] But giving ammunition to those who think Biden is a coward, Biden also said on July 20^th[iv] that “his understanding was that the US military did not want Pelosi to visit.”[v]

The Department of Defense did its best July 27^th to make it clear that this is not the case. The Pentagon revealed that it was making plans to protect Pelosi if and when she goes to Taiwan.

London’s Daily Mail speculated in a headline that the Chinese might shoot down Pelosi’s plane.[vi] American military sources hint that they may send the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan with its 90 aircraft to the South China Sea to make sure there are no hostile actions of this sort.

Meanwhile, the Chinese have been warning of dire consequences if Pelosi and her delegation show up in Taiwan. China’s Defense Ministry warned July 26th that, “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army … will resolutely thwart any form of interference by external forces.’”

That’s a formidable threat. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army is the biggest military in the world. And it’s bristling with sophisticated weapons like advanced rockets and hypersonic cruise missiles[vii], including missiles designed specifically to reduce aircraft carriers to floating junk.

Meanwhile, Retired Rear Adm. John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, went on Fox TV today and said that the Biden administration is not going to allow China to “back us into a corner.”

But that’s going to be tough. Joe Biden had a phone meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping July 28^th, just as the Pelosi crisis was rising to a peak. What did Xi have to say? “Those who play with fire will perish by it.”[viii]

Topping everything, this is a time when Xi Jinping is under pressure to be particularly aggressive. Gordon Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” says that China is threatening India. That’s something China’s been doing since 1962, when China and India went to war. But Chang also tweeted a few weeks ago:

#China has just told Tokyo it might send hundreds of vessels into Japanese waters this month. That’s an attempt to both break apart #Japan by prying away the Senkaku Islands and bust up #America’s century-old western defense perimeter.[ix]

The Senkaku islands are 255 miles from Japan, and Japan regards them as its sovereign territory.[x]

What’s pressing Xi to be so aggressive? Xi wants to be dictator for life. He’s had ten years as China’s ruler. But in a few months China’s 20th Party Congress will decide whether he gets another five year term.[xi]

Xi has to look tough to keep his leadership position. He has to live up to the standard set by a wildly popular Chinese film, a film that has become iconic in Chinese international affairs thinking, the role of a wolf warrior, a merciless killer, a Chinese Rambo.

And Xi has to make it look like he is advancing the Chinese goal of shrinking the United States to a global has-been and taking over as the planet’s undisputed leader. The leader in what China calls “a new world order.”

References:

Official site for China’s foreign ministry https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202207/t20220727_10728854.html

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/senkaku/qa_1010.html

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Indo-Pacific/Why-the-U.S.-military-thinks-Pelosi-s-Taiwan-trip-is-a-bad-idea

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/27/a-dangerous-moment-china-warns-of-consequences-if-nancy-pelosi-visits-taiwan

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/21/nancy-pelosi-taiwan-trip-not-good-idea-right-now-joe-biden

https://twitter.com/GordonGChang/status/1291748685731319809

[i] https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Indo-Pacific/Why-the-U.S.-military-thinks-Pelosi-s-Taiwan-trip-is-a-bad-idea

[ii] https://www.speaker.gov/

[iii] https://time.com/6179956/biden-us-defend-taiwan-china/

[iv] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/21/biden-china-nancy-pelosi-taiwan-military/

[v] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/27/a-dangerous-moment-china-warns-of-consequences-if-nancy-pelosi-visits-taiwan,