Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan risks undermining US efforts with Asian allies: NYT

The US has built an economic and diplomatic strategy in Asia to counter China. However, The visit to Taiwan by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi now threatens to undermine the push by the Biden administration, leaving allies to wonder what damage had been done to the president's united front in Asia, said a report by the New York Times. 

In an article published on Wednesday (3 August), titled, "Pelosi's Taiwan Visit Risks Undermining US Efforts With Asian Allies", NYT Beijing Bureau Chief Jane Perlez, writes that the Biden administration has sent top military officials to seal new partnerships and launched a plan to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines and initiated a regional economic pact. However, The Taiwan trip by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi is an unnecessary provocation that distracts from the US allies' efforts to counter China's military might and economic clout.

"While US allies have largely remained mum on the visit so far, there's a sense among America's friends that they were left out in the cold to watch as China threatened the United States and Taiwan, the self-governed island that China claims as its own," the article said. 

"The handling of Ms Pelosi's visit was worrisome because, intentionally or not, it showed China's power and diminished the role of the allies," the article added, citing Seong-Hyon Lee, a South Korean fellow at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University.

The NYT report states that "the very fact that China's potential response becomes a heated debate in Washington reveals China's rise in status."

"Washington's hesitance has been already widely read in the region. This is a very poor signaling diplomacy coming from Washington to its allies and partners in the region," it continued. 

According to the NYT, China's Navy has steadily increased its patrols and military exercises in the South China Sea, sending more sophisticated ships. Its military aircraft have harassed warplanes of American allies in recent months. In May, Australia complained that a Chinese fighter jet dangerously intercepted one of its surveillance aircraft.

"Given China's economic and military might, US allies want consultation with Washington, something they didn't appear to get on Ms Pelosi's foray to Taiwan," the report read. 

The foreign minister of Australia, Penny Wong, suggested this on Wednesday when she called on all sides, not only China, to back off, NYT reported. 

US President Joe Biden's assurances on Asia in recent months had been comforting to nations facing China's ire, the report said; adding that "a favorite expression of that ire has been trade boycotts for what China considers bad behavior. Just hours after Ms. Pelosi's arrival in Taiwan, China imposed economic measures on the island in retaliation."

China has banned Australia's exports of wine, lobsters and coal over the past two years, after its government called for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19, which first surfaced in China. Together with the United States, Australia is spending money and diplomatic capital to help counter growing Chinese influence in the Pacific islands, a strategically important area in the event of war with China.

The Chinese government still maintains economic sanctions on South Korea for allowing the United States in 2017 to deploy a missile defense system. When the new South Korean leader, Yoon Suk-yeol, said recently that he might consider a second installment of the system, China threatened more sanctions.

"Japan, one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Washington's China strategy, has devised a new plan to coordinate with the United States on Taiwan. The defense ministry in Japan has also moved troops, antiaircraft artillery and surface-to-ship missile defense batteries to the country's southern islands, which are close to Taiwan," the report states. 

It adds that public opinion in Japan has shifted decisively against China, and support for Taiwan has grown, presenting an opportunity for US to capitalise on closer relations between Japan and Taiwan.

"But Japan also wants to avoid any unnecessary new friction between the United States and China," the report remarks. 

However, the economies of many US allies in the region, including Japan, South Korea and Australia, depend heavily on China.  

"As countries now brace for the fallout from Pelosi's visit, the increased tensions between the two superpowers have ultimately raised questions about the authority of the American president," the NYT report said. 

The full article can be read here.