China warns of military response to Pelosi’s Taiwan trip – Financial Times

Posted byJohnsonwkchoiPosted inUncategorized

China warns of military response to Pelosi’s Taiwan trip – Financial Times . Beijing has reportedly told US officials that a visit by the House speaker to Taiwan could trigger a forceful reaction. 中國警告對佩洛西台灣之行的軍事反應 – 金融時報。 據報導，北京告訴美國官員，眾議院議長訪問台灣可能會引發強烈反應.

US may deploy aircraft carriers for House speaker’s Taiwan trip

Nancy Pelosi could do a zoom meeting, saving 12 hrs of travel & jet fuel, or she could precipitate WWIII.

Any bets on which choice the Biden-CNAS-Blue team warhawks are likely to make?

Wall Street Journal https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/25/ooce-j25.html

The US military is considering “moving aircraft carriers or sending fighter planes for close air support” as part of a potential trip by US house speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

The Wall Street Journal wrote, “And now that both she [Pelosi] and Mr. Biden have raised the prospect of a military threat, any decision to stay home would look like a retreat under Chinese pressure. Mrs. Pelosi almost has to take the trip now.”

The simultaneous escalation against Russia and China comes three weeks after New York City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) released a 90-second public service announcement (PSA), giving instructions to city residents on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack on America’s largest city. The video begins with the narration, “So there has been a nuclear attack. Don’t ask me how or why, just know that the big one has hit.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s announced plans to visit Taiwan in August risks triggering a war with China.  Starting with President Richard Nixon’s visit to China and the resulting Shanghai Communique, for fifty years, the United States, China, the government of Taiwan, an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations, and the United Nations have all officially agreed that there is only “One China,” that Taiwan island is a province of China, and that the issues between them should be settled by the Chinese themselves.  This has been the bedrock foundation of peace between the US, Taiwan, and mainland China all these decades.  This “One China policy” would be blatantly violated by the visit of such a high profile American official such as Pelosi, who is third in the line of succession to the presidency of the United States. Both the United States and China recognize the seriousness of this proposed trip; the US is talking about moving aircraft carriers to the region to provide security, and Chinese sources are talking about having China’s own aircraft escort Pelosi’s plane.  The US and Chinese militaries have been holding rival military exercises and playing games of “chicken” with each other for years, but now there are warnings from prominent persons in both nations that this trip risks a serious and possibly deadly clash. Chinese spokesman Zhao Lijian said China was “seriously prepared” and “If the U.S. side is bent on going its own way, China will take strong measures to resolutely respond and counteract…. The United States should be held responsible for any serious consequences.”   A former top Obama White House China expert, Evan Medeiros, recently said,“The Taiwan issue… could spark war—including nuclear war—between the two largest economies in the world.”  Pelosi herself said, “… maybe the (US) military was afraid our plane would get shot down or something like that by the Chinese.”  

At the same time, several key pieces in Asia have fallen into place for America to start a war there.  President Yoon Suk-yeol was recently elected the new president of South Korea (by a thin margin and almost certainly with US and Korean CIA involvement), and he is a far right crazy of the John Bolton mode.  Shinzo Abe, the immediate past prime minister of Japan was just assassinated, becoming a martyr whose death only strengthens his right wing party’s (the LDP) hand. They now have the votes, for the first time, to change Japan’s peace constitution and go to war.  And President Tsai is a right winger in Taiwan who dances to America’s tune.  Both the new leaders of Japan and South Korea are calling for their countries to participate in war if it should break out over Taiwan. And now the US has gotten NATO to name China as a threat and commit to support action against China.  

The only piece not in place for war is Taiwan itself; polls show the majority of people just want to maintain the status quo, which was working for both sides, the mainland and Taiwan.  Prior to the pandemic, trade and tourism both ways had been increasing continuously, and both sides benefited without either side having to give up anything.  It was win-win and most people on both sides, and the mainland CPC government, would like to keep it that way.  Also, Taiwan’s military is not ready for war, they have a draft but it only requires four months of service, then they just go into the reserve, which doesn’t even conduct regular training.  Retired San Francisco judge Julie Tang, originally from Hong Kong and a cofounder of Pivot To Peace (https://peacepivot.org/ ) reported, “The loudest voice of opposition to her Taiwan trip is from Taiwan’s independent press. They are outraged. These folks understand how devastating it may mean to Taiwan.” 

But internal conditions in Taiwan are not likely to change in the foreseeable future, so this is as good as it gets for the US, if war is the goal.  Biden, Brinken, Nuland, and company can’t get it any better. They didn’t learn from their defeat in Afghanistan, seem blind to their impending disaster in Ukraine, and they continue to press on China. So while a war is not certain, the possibility of it is increasing.  

At the same time, the White House is wavering on Pelosi’s visit, and different voices from the establishment are saying conflicting things and giving conflicting signals. With the US establishment divided, this is a critical moment in which a large peace movement push for peace – peaceful demonstrations at congressional offices and the White House, letters to editors of local newspapers, and other peace actions – may make a critical difference in tipping the balance towards peace rather than a devastating, possibly nuclear war.  I urge all peace organizations and leaders to step boldly forward at this critical moment in time.  Now is the time to take action to pull our country and our world back from the blink of war.  

Resources for more information: 

Mike Wong 

Vice President, Veterans For Peace, San Francisco Chapter #69 

Co-founder, Pivot to Peace: https://peacepivot.org/ 
Co-chair, Veterans For Peace China Working Group:  https://www.veteransforpeace.org/our-work/working-groups/china-working-group

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