Another Avoidable Crisis

Taiwan is already being made to pay the price for Pelosi’s unnecessary jaunt, and it is likely to keep paying a price for it over the coming weeks and months.

The Chinese government’s response to the reckless Pelosi visit is already creating new problems for Taiwan:

By the time Mrs. Pelosi (D., Calif.) wrapped up a day of meetings with Taiwan’s president, senior lawmakers, executives and human-rights activists and left Taiwan on Wednesday, China’s navy had already maneuvered into position for large live-fire drills that will encircle the island beginning Thursday.

Mrs. Pelosi’s visit sought to reinforce what she said was America’s ironclad commitment to preserving Taiwan’s democracy. Yet the trip also brings Beijing’s military activity into what Taipei claims as its territorial waters, according to Taipei’s Defense Ministry, raising the prospect of greater pressure on an island that is the most sensitive flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.

The military exercises are more extensive and intrusive than the exercises that took place during the crisis in 1995-96, and they could be just the beginning of a coordinated pressure campaign. A senior Taiwanese official has said that the exercises are “tantamount to an air and sea blockade,” because the areas where the Chinese military will be conducting live-fire drills surround the main island. As the quoted report states, these drills will be conducted partly in what Taiwan considers to be its territorial waters. Besides the military exercises, Beijing has also begun to punish Taiwan economically with the suspension of certain exports and imports meant to target constituencies that support the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. Taiwan is already being made to pay the price for Pelosi’s unnecessary jaunt, and it is likely to keep paying a price for it over the coming weeks and months.