A showboat to China
Nancy Pelosi’s posturing trip to Taiwan will serve only to rile its much larger neighbour
IN almost 10 years of living in the States, one of the most perilous beliefs I’ve found this country holds is that of American exceptionalism.
The presumption that not only its values, political system, and history are worthy of universal admiration but that they are greater than any other nation on Earth.
Between its gun massacres, having the planet’s highest incarceration rate, the lack of women’s rights and a poisonous political divide, Uncle Sam is sure in a mess.
And yet this week, such adherence to American exceptionalism once again made the world a little less safe, as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi undertook something utterly irresponsible.
Despite pleas not to, the veteran Democrat took it upon herself to visit Taiwan, going against President Joe Biden’s wishes and stoking huge tensions between the US And China.
Even before setting foot in Taipei City, Beijing’s media mouthpieces advocated shooting down her plane. At the same time, officials warned America: “If you play with fire, you get burned.”
The visit has drawn outrage from China, which for years has sought to diplomatically isolate Taiwan and views such exchanges with high-level foreign dignitaries as support for the island’s formal independence.
The Chinese Communist Party claims the island, a self-governing democracy home to 23 million
people, as its territory, despite never having ruled it since coming to power in the 1940s.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pledged to “reunify” Taiwan with China by force if necessary.
But despite warnings, Pelosi went ahead, sparking a high-stakes showdown. No one can doubt her intentions. Since coming to congress more than 30 years ago, she has rightly waged a tenacious defence of human rights and democratic values abroad.
She famously unfurled a banner in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square dedicated to the pro-democracy student activists massacred there.
But, whilst the world should not bow down to Beijing, nothing good will come of her visit now.
Taiwan will not be more secure or prosperous due to her purely symbolic trip, and it could have disastrous consequences. Already Beijing has said it will hold military exercises around Taiwan which the island says encroach on its territory and amount to a blockade of its sea and air space. Some say the Taiwan Straits are a powder keg and America cannot risk lighting a stick of dynamite, while others argue they cannot give in to China’s bullying.
With a war raging in Ukraine, the world is already on a knife’s edge. The last thing anyone needs is another military conflict. Pelosi’s visit is a grandstanding act that has incensed Beijing without improving the lives of Taiwan’s people.
America would be better placed to work behind the scenes in a series of carefully co-ordinated actions that have genuine value in shoring up the island’s security.
Because, despite America believing its success is due to a unique genius, that it behaves better than other nations do, is responsible for the most good in the world, and God is on its side more than any other nation’s, this is often just fantasy.
If the US wants to be truly exceptional, it might start by viewing the whole idea of “American exceptionalism” with a much more sceptical eye.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pledged to “reunify” Taiwan with China by force if necessary...