China should view Pelosi’s visit as ‘friend-shoring,’ not a security threat

On her closely watched tour of Asia, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has defied naysayers from both parties, who warned of China’s perceived provocation as she visits the self-governed island democracy of Taiwan. Instead of a security crisis, Pelosi’s stopover in Taiwan, which is claimed by China as its territory, should be viewed as a keystone of the U.S.’s renewed emphasis on liberal trade and democracy — and away from market protectionism and trade wars.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, originally planned for April but canceled when the speaker tested positive for COVID-19, has generated much controversy. China watchers and policy pundits alike warned of the authoritarian regime potentially responding with military aggression.

They pointed to when Beijing fired missiles at Taiwan in late 1995 and early 1996 in the run-up to Taiwan’s first democratic presidential election. That aggression led President Bill Clinton to order aircraft carriers into the Taiwan Strait. More recently, in 2020, Chinese planes flew over the median line of the Taiwan Strait when then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar visited the island.

Pelosi’s trip to Asia is occurring in the context of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework announced by President Joe Biden during his own trip to Asia in May. The framework is premised on ensuring supply-chain sustainability and market opportunities in the Asia Pacific for U.S. companies during a time of heightened tensions with China.

“In the background of the speaker’s visit are Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the continuing close ties between Beijing and Moscow.”

In the background of the speaker’s visit are Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the continuing close ties between Beijing and Moscow, despite economic sanctions against Russia.

Pelosi’s trip to Asia and Taiwan, an allied country with multinational corporations that are critical nodes of global supply chains, can and should be viewed as contributing to a recent call by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to continue “friend-shoring” among our international allies.

Biden had stopped short of requesting that Pelosi skip Taiwan. Though his administration cautioned whether it was wise to do so, Biden explained to Chinese President Xi Jinping in a phone call last week that he cannot control Pelosi’s actions because of the separation of powers enshrined by the U.S. Constitution.

Beijing, for its part, stressed through its Foreign Ministry that China “will take resolute responses and strong countermeasures to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity” in response to “a gross interference in China’s internal affairs.” Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army announced live ammunition drills and fighter jet exercises.

Pelosi’s trip notwithstanding, the Biden administration underscored that U.S. policy concerning Taiwan remains pillared by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 and the One China Policy. The former obligates the sale of arms to Taiwan to maintain sufficient self-defense capability. The law empowers the president and Congress to act if that is jeopardized in order to maintain peace and security in the Western Pacific region.

The Taiwan Relations Act was voted into law by Congress during the presidency of Jimmy Carter when the U.S. normalized relations with the People’s Republic of China and switched diplomatic recognition of Taiwan to China. That, along with the U.S.’s recognition — though not an official endorsement — in the One China Policy, of China’s claim of Taiwan, became known as the long-standing U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity.”

Now Biden’s Indo-Pacific trade treaty is focused on diversifying supply chains and markets to reduce U.S. reliance on China in the face of an increasingly closed Chinese economy under President Xi, who is focused on promoting indigenous industry that the party-state can control.

Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan is about reenforcing liberal markets and trade with a U.S. ally that is a contributor to the global supply chain, not a direct provocation of China. The Industrial Policy bill that the U.S. Senate passed last week is a bipartisan response to China’s role in global supply chains and capacity to achieve innovations that are then applied to sustain authoritarian rule.

“It is the Chinese leadership’s responsibility not to turn Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan into something it is not.”

It is the Chinese leadership’s responsibility not to turn Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan into something it is not. Doing so will needlessly jeopardize peace and security in the Western Pacific at a time when many are already drawing parallels regarding China and its claim over Taiwan to Russia’s takeover of its small neighbor. Those comparisons would be something that a China intent on claiming a peaceful rise would surely want to avoid.

Roselyn Hsueh is an associate professor of political science at Temple University, where she codirects the certificate program in political economy. She is the author of “Micro-institutional Foundations of Capitalism” and “China’s Regulatory State.”