Nancy Pelosi and the Wolf Warrior

By Howard Bloom

Nancy Pelosi’s August trip to Taiwan has not been scheduled yet, but it has already become much more than a diplomatic and fact-finding visit.

Tweets Hu Xijin, the former editor of one of China’s leading official media outlets, the Global Times: “It is certain that the mainland’s response to Pelosi’s visit will …involve shocking military response.”[i] Let me repeat that key phrase: “shocking military response.”

Why? Nancy Pelosi’s visit has become a showdown between two superpowers over which one will lead the global order for the rest of the 21st century. And in this confrontation, it’s imperative that the United States not back down.

Here are the details. China claims that it owns Taiwan. No other countries, China says, should acknowledge Taiwan’s independent democratic government. No official of another government should meet with it.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi[ii] was originally scheduled to defy this Chinese edict and visit Taiwan in April but tested positive for Covid and had to postpone. Now it looks like her trip is on for August. Complete with visits to Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii.

There’s a special significance to this visit. Nancy Pelosi would be the highest ranking American politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years. As speaker of the house, she is third in line to the presidency. Which means that if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were to be abducted by aliens, Pelosi would become president.

Some press outlets are turning Pelosi’s trip into a test of Joe Biden’s courage. And others have implied that a trip by Pelosi could lead to a full scale war.

Biden made a courageous statement in Tokyo May 23rd when he said with great conviction that the US would defend Taiwan militarily.[iii] But giving ammunition to those who think Biden is a coward, Biden also said on July 20th[iv] that “his understanding was that the US military did not want Pelosi to visit.”[v]