The Chinese government, in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, has scheduled military drills that effectively blockade the island. The drills are in effect a blockade of the island a demonstration of China’s potential power to impose a blockade; some shipping is being allowed through. No ship’s captain wants to enter an area where naval forces are firing live ammunition.
China also cut off sales to Taiwan of construction-grade sand, essential for concrete, and stopped imports of fish and fruit products from Taiwan.
And it announced that the timetable for unification of Taiwan with the mainland will be speeded up.
The Chinese actions are a signal to the authorities on Taiwan that they are at the mercy of the Chinese government, and that China doesn’t have to invade with troops to exert its power.
What is the United States going to do about it? President Biden said a U.S. naval task force, including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, will remain in the area longer than planned, but what of it? Does anybody think he would be reckless enough to order the U.S. Navy to enter the area where the Chinese are conducting military exercises?
The status quo was acceptable to everyone. The Chinese government claimed sovereignty over the island, and nobody directly denied it. At the same time the Chinese on the island enjoyed self-government, without Beijing’s interference. All that was required for this situation to continue was silence on the part of all concerned.
Now this has changed. The government in Beijing might have tolerated home rule in Taiwan indefinitely. It will never accept even the remote possibility of Taiwan becoming a base from which the United States or other foreign power could launch attacks on China, as the Japanese did during World War Two.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think the Chinese reaction was due to Pelosi’s statements alone. It followed a number of statements and actions by U.S. officials and politicians that ramped up tensions. Pelosi’s visit was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
There was a time when the United States had such overwhelming military superiority that American leaders could say and do whatever they liked without concern about what leaders of other nations thought or would do. That time is gone.
Bear in mind that while the U.S. military sought full spectrum dominance everywhere in everything, the Chinese military has been working on the one very specific problem of how to counter U.S. power in the China seas. (And the Russian military has spent at least 15 years working on the one very specific problem of how to counter U.S. power in Eastern Europe).
President Theodore Roosevelt liked to quote the alleged African proverb, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” The most dangerous thing that an individual person or a national leader can do is to make idle threats. That’s what our leaders have fallen into the habit of doing.
LINKS
Endgame Taiwan: US Plans Further China Eyepoking with Planned Military Transit of the Taiwan Strait by Yves Smith for Naked Capitalism. A good assessment of the overall situation, with important background information.
‘Taiwan lockdown’ drills stun secessionists, external forces as precision strike, area denial capabilities proved by the staff of Global Times. A Chinese report on Chinese power.
Biden will keep aircraft carrier in the South China Sea, but postpones missile test by Christina Wilkie for MSNBC.