Some people in China reportedly feel House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Taiwan crossed a line.
Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, reported on these feelings during a Center for Strategic and International Studies live event Aug. 4 titled "Toward a Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis?”
“From conversations I’ve had over the last couple of days with Chinese experts, I’m told that there is a great deal of frustration and disappointment, not only in the sort of public opinion, but in the Chinese sort of scholarly community. There has been a groundswell of support for a very, very strong reaction by China," Glaser said, according to a statement provided to State Newswire. "There’s a sense that the United States has crossed China’s red lines. What I’ve seen is a really effective use by China of the statecraft, that China has been amassing these tools for quite some time. And of course, there was a long period in the runup to this visit, so China had quite a bit of time to prepare.
“And we have seen some, I think, use of economic statecraft against Taiwan, not just boycotting large numbers of agricultural goods, which come from southern Taiwan – and of course, this is then intended to influence the voters in southern Taiwan not to support the DPP – but also, essentially, sanctions on companies who are providing support to the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and the development assistance arm of Taiwan’s government,” Glaser said, according to the statement. “So this is relatively new. We’ll probably see more rolled out. We have not seen any diplomatic action yet. But so far, the coordination of the government and its various actions, I think, have been quite effective in putting pressure on Taiwan...This is not just to take punitive actions against Taiwan. It really is to change the status quo.”
China imposed some trade restrictions on Taiwan following Pelosi's visit, CNN Business reported. China is Taiwan's top trading partner, with the two nations exchanging $273 billion worth of goods in 2021. China will no longer allow imports of some fruits and fish from Taiwan and will halt exports of natural sand to the island, which is used in semiconductor chip manufacturing. Taiwanese officials stated that China's sand accounts for “less than 1%” of its demand.
Taiwan is home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s semiconductor manufacturers, CNBC reported in 2021. China accounted for 6%.
The State Department describes Taiwan as an important trade partner, especially regarding semiconductors and other technology, but emphasizes U.S.-Taiwan relations are “unofficial” and “not diplomatic,” according to a State Department fact sheet.
The Taiwan Relations Act, enacted in 1979, asserts that the U.S. aims to maintain peaceful trade and cultural relations with both Taiwan and China. It specifies the United States shall provide defensive arms to Taiwan and maintain the U.S. capacity to resist any force or other forms of coercion, according to the Congressional Record.
Taiwan's ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party, has historically supported full independence from China, but most people in Taiwan support maintaining the status quo, according to a June 2022 survey, the BBC reported Aug. 2.
