On July 18, the British media disclosed that Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, planned to lead a delegation to visit Taiwan in August. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has explicitly demanded that the US side must not arrange this itinerary, otherwise the consequences will be borne entirely by the United States. U.S. President Joe Biden said the U.S. military believes that Pelosi's visit to Taiwan is "not a good idea," and Pelosi himself was vague about whether to visit, saying that "it will not confirm or deny the specific itinerary in advance." It can be said that whether Pelosi is visiting Taiwan has become a major variable in recent Sino-US relations, and former US Secretary of State Pompeo, who has long since left office, is still not willing to be lonely will naturally not miss this hot political issue. Recently, Pompeo publicly "rubbed the heat" on social media, threatening to visit Taiwan with Pelosi.
Pelosi's visit to Taiwan would be tantamount to lighting a powder keg and would undermine peace in Asia. Liu Rui (Image from Global Times)
According to the Global Times, on July 25, local time, former US Secretary of State Pompeo posted on his personal Twitter account that "Nancy (that is, Pelosi), I want to go to Taiwan with you, although I have been sanctioned by China (mainland), but not in Taiwan, which loves freedom, we will see you in Taiwan." As soon as this remark came out, it was immediately cheered by many people on the island who forgot their ancestors, and Wang Dingyu, the so-called "legislator" of the Green Party, immediately rushed to Pompeo's twitter and replied that "I look forward to the two of you coming to Taiwan together as soon as possible." Recall that during the Trump administration, Pompeo, who was from the Republican Party, was still in the same situation as Pelosi, the elder of the Democratic Party, and the two often accused each other of attacking, but they did not expect that in just two years, Pompeo actually actively "upside down", and took the initiative to rub the heat in the case that Pelosi did not confirm that he wanted to visit Taiwan, which was really ridiculous.
Pelosi
The reason why Pompeo wants to rub his heat on Pelosi's visit to Taiwan is most likely related to his recent political planning. According to a number of media reports, Pompeo has announced that he will participate in the 2024 US presidential election and will first compete with Trump for the position of Republican presidential candidate. From a political perspective, Pompeo himself served as CIA director and secretary of state during the Trump administration, and he has no experience working in the civil affairs department. This prevents him from coming up with an attractive campaign platform for domestic issues in the United States, so he can only attract attention by hyping up external issues.
At present, the US political arena is caught in the "anti-China inner volume", and Pompeo will be able to further establish his own image of being tough and anti-China and win the support of the ultra-conservative forces in the United States by rubbing the heat of Pelosi's visit to Taiwan at this time. From an economic point of view, Pompeo's campaign funds are currently difficult to raise, and in March this year, he visited Taiwan and received a large amount of money from the Taiwan authorities. If this visit can be carried out, it is estimated that the Taiwan authorities will also pay Pompeo a huge amount of money through various channels, and the problem of Pompeo's insufficient campaign funds will be effectively alleviated. Therefore, both politically and economically, Pompeo is very willing to follow Pelosi on a visit.
Although US politicians are very enthusiastic about visiting Taiwan, the US military is worried about this phenomenon. Following Biden's statement that "[Pelosi's visit] is not a good idea," the U.S. military-sponsored media "Star-Spangled Banner" once again criticized Pelosi's visit. Recently, the Star-Spangled Banner newspaper published an editorial saying that Pelosi's sneaking visit plan and Pompeo's continuous rubbing of heat are making the United States "sleepwalk like a huge danger of the fourth Taiwan Strait crisis."
The U.S. military's criticism of Pelosi's planned visit twice in a week shows how much he abhors the idea. As for the reason why the military firmly opposes Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, it is very simple. Today, the Platon Army has a military strength that is not weaker than that of the US military in the western Pacific, whether it is a think tank like the RAND Corporation or a wargame exercise held by the US Department of Defense, it is invariably pointed out that if the US military fights the PLA in the first island chain, then the US military will suffer a major defeat in a very short period of time. Once Pelosi's visit to Taiwan leads to a conflict between the Chinese and American militaries, senior officials of the US government and Congress can naturally hide on the other side of the Pacific, but the US military must face the offensive of the PLA. Therefore, the US military has always been firmly opposed to Pelosi's plan to visit Taiwan.
In addition to the military, many officials of the Major U.S. multinational corporations and the Biden administration also oppose Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. The Washington Post and Russia's Izvestia believe that Pelosi's attempt to visit Taiwan this time is a battle of beasts for her political career. Democrats' support in the U.S. is plummeting, and it is almost impossible to win the midterm elections, and If the Republicans seize a majority in Congress, Pelosi should resign as speaker. At the same time, Pelosi's husband has recently been mired in the scandal of insider trading in the stock market, and many people suspect that Pelosi informed her husband in advance of the chip industry subsidy bill that the US Congress is preparing to pass, and then let him buy a large number of shares in related companies in advance. Faced with such a passive situation, Pelosi will have to do something big if she does not want her political life to come to an abrupt end here, and visiting Taiwan has become one of her options. Russian Life News Network commented, now let's see what exactly will prevail for Pelosi? Is it political rationality or political machination? Is it a national interest or a personal interest?