Taiwan Worried Possible Pelosi Visit Cancellation May Have ‘Chilling Effect’ on Island’s Security

Beijing has repeatedly criticized Washington for maintaining official contact with Taipei, claiming that the policy infringes on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and provokes instability in the region.

Taiwan is reportedly concerned that the fallout from the White House dispute over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s possible visit to Taipei may further compromise the island’s security, according to the Financial Times (FT).

The newspaper cited unnamed Taiwanese security sources as saying that the island is trapped between the risk that Beijing would “punish” Taipei for receiving Pelosi and the risk that Washington would cancel the trip, opening the door for China to have a say in US-Taiwan relations. Pelosi is reportedly due to visit the island in August.

“If the visit is called off, that means China’s intimidation tactics works. That will have a chilling effect as others will shy away from engaging with us,” one of the sources argued.

The insiders also stressed that they were concerned that Beijing might retaliate if Pelosi goes ahead with her trip. The sources added that US President Joe Biden is due to hold a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the near future, “and maybe they [White House officials] are anxious that nothing should disrupt that [the conversation]”.

“We know that the Biden administration would like to improve trade ties [with China], and maybe they don’t want that to be derailed by a Pelosi visit,” one insiders alleged.

Separately, the sources told the FT that the Biden administration has not discussed its considerations about Pelosi’s planned visit with the Taiwanese government. “A lot of discussions are quite speculative and hypothetical. We haven’t had much info from the Biden administration,” they asserted.

The claims followed CNN reporting last week that the US is concerned that China could declare a no-fly zone over Taiwanese airspace or scramble fighter jets further into Taiwan’s air defense zone as a response to Pelosi’s potential visit.

The House speaker, for her part, refused to comment on what she described as “the security issue”, telling reporters last Thursday that she doesn’t “ever discuss travel plans”.

Last week, President Joe Biden was lukewarm on the possible trip, telling reporters that “I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now, but I don’t know what the status of it is,” adding that he plans to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping “within the next ten days”.

In turn, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned Washington of the consequences of Pelosi’s potential visit, promising “forceful measures to resolutely respond and counteract”.

“We urge the US side to adhere to the One-China principle and the stipulations in the three China-US joint communiqués. The US must not arrange for Speaker Pelosi to visit the Taiwan region and must stop official interactions with Taiwan, stop creating factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait,” the spokesman emphasized.

Beijing-Washington Tensions Over Taiwan

The developments come amid ongoing China-US tensions over Taiwan, which have spiked dramatically during President Joe Biden's tenure following repeated promises to come to the island’s defense if it were “invaded” by China.

Late last year, Taiwan's Defense Ministry revealed that over 600 US military personnel have visited the island since 2019, in contravention of China-US agreements and the One-China policy.

On top of that, the US has repeatedly sent its warships to the Taiwan Strait, with Beijing dubbing such missions provocations and slamming Washington as the "destroyer of peace and stability" and "a security risk creator” in the region.