As Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi plans an official trip to Taiwan, Xi Jinping says that “those who play with fire end up getting burned”.
Things are heating up between China and the United States. At the heart of the confusion, the island of Taiwan, which Beijing considers to be one of its provinces. And therefore takes a dim view of any economic or military relationship with other countries, in particular with the United States, which does not hesitate to sell arms to Taipei.
However, since 1949, Taiwan (called the Republic of China, as opposed to the People’s Republic of China) has been separated from mainland China, which has become communist. The island, with a population of 23 million, has its own government, its own currency and its own institutions. But it never officially declared its independence.
Postponed due to Covid
The status of the island is therefore regularly the subject of tension between the Middle Kingdom and the United States. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 put a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan back in the spotlight
It is in this very delicate context that Nancy Pelosi decided, last April, to make an official visit to Taipei. History to reassure the local authorities and to confirm the American support to them if, by chance, China was too enterprising.
But Nancy Pelosi, 82, caught Covid and had to postpone her trip. That she rescheduled for the days or weeks to come.
Live ammunition exercises
The Chinese do not really appreciate this kind of provocation. The Beijing authorities have indicated that the United States will have to “assume all the consequences” according to Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy.
Specifically, on Wednesday, China announced in a statement that a “live ammunition” military exercise would be conducted on July 30, 2022 in the Taiwan Strait.
During a two-hour meeting between President Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, the Chinese president could not have been clearer: “Those who play with fire end up getting burned,” he said.
nuclear fire
Message received 5 out of 5. Both the White House and the Pentagon have decided to calm things down. Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan “is not a good thing now”, admits the American president.
He knows China is serious business. It is not Russia that can be waged a proxy war via Ukraine and NATO. A confrontation between China and the United States quickly turned into a disaster. Undoubtedly “the fire” of which Xi Jinping speaks. Nuclear fire, of course.
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