Chinese warships surrounded Taiwan again this Sunday, August 7. After the surprise visit of the leader of the American deputies Nancy Pelosi to Taipei on Tuesday August 2, the Chinese government, which considers this territory as one of its provinces, reacted strongly by organizing large military maneuvers around the island, the most important in its history. By sending warships, fighter planes and ballistic missiles, Beijing is using this visit above all as a “pretext to carry out his maneuvers“, analyzes Patrick Martin-Genier, teacher at Science Po and Inalco.
>> Taiwan: we explain to you why Nancy Pelosi’s visit is straining relations between China and the United States
Is Nancy Pelosi’s visit behind the Chinese military maneuvers around the island of Taiwan?
No, I think it was a pretext. But the timing was not necessarily very good because in reality, Nancy Pelosi moved, not as Speaker of the House of Representatives, but as the third personage of the State, likely to eventually accede to the presidency of the United States. In addition, there are mid-term elections in November. She is afraid of losing her seat as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Which means that even in the United States, but also in Japan, in South Korea, many leaders felt that the moment was not the best. But of course, a pretext that was seized by China to carry out these maneuvers.
A visit by Nancy Pelosi to the island of Taiwan criticized by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The leader of La France insoumise indicated on his blog that the visit of the President of the United States House of Representatives constituted “a provocation“, while”there is only one china“, who “sits among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council“Words that divided the French left. What do you think of this controversy?
I don’t quite understand what Jean-Luc Mélenchon is being blamed for because he only reiterates the traditional French position of a single China. We actually seem to see in the words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon a political leader who would take up the cause of the discourse and strategy of the People’s Republic of China. In the end, he is criticized for his anti-American bias and his bias for the People’s Republic of China.
