Stoic, often fatalistic population paid little attention to talk of House speaker’s visit – until it was confirmed
Generally, Taiwan’s population had not been overly interested in the talk of a visit. As international media pumped out headlines and op-eds, domestic news prioritised local elections, a long-running heatwave and celebrity news. In one bulletin, Pelosi didn’t even make the top half. Having fun with it, some commentators bet bags of rice that she wouldn’t visit.
People’s reasons not to worry are diverse, ranging from seeing invasion as an unstoppable inevitability, to a futile mission bound to be resisted by Taiwan or thwarted with US help, to something that simply won’t happen because no one wants it. The largest crowd gathered outside the Grand Hyatt, where Pelosi was due to stay. The turnout was larger than any expected and drew a large police presence but remained peaceful. Well organised, vociferous protesters held signs calling Pelosi a warmonger, and chanted “Yankee go home” from across the road. Heavy-set men wandered the crowd wearing body cameras or holding phones aloft, capturing faces among the crowd.
Analysts here and overseas have said the visit is the most dangerous moment in cross-strait tensions for decades. The last Taiwan strait crisis lasted a few months into 1996. The following year one of Pelosi’s predecessors as speaker, Newt Gingrich, visited the island. Eventually, Beijing swallowed its irritation. But that was 26 years ago.
Her views echo those of Lo Chih-Cheng, a legislator with the ruling Democratic Progressive party , who told a Taipei forum last week that Taiwan needed an alternative approach towards China. “Engagement with China is OK but don’t expect we can change China by engaging with China,” she said.After the leak last month about the visit, a bellicose China, promising dire consequences and warning the US not to “play with fire”. On Monday and Tuesday the rhetoric was followed with action.
Zhu Feng, the dean of the Institute of International Relations at China’s Nanjing University, said the US was “adding fuel to the fire” but China would not do anything hostile in retaliation.
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