Nancy Pelosi is as tough as old boots. She is 82, she has served two stints as Speaker of the House of Representatives and is third in line to the US presidency. Never let it be said that if she does end up kicking off World War Three in the Pacific, she did not know what she was doing. She will have coolly assessed the risks and decided it was in her political interests — and that of the Democrats in the November midterm elections — to take a tough stand against China. Back home, US voters like their leaders to stick it to the Communists.
As for the rest of us, we can only pray she made the right call. Because if war breaks out at some point between China and its US-friendly neighbour, we may all be swept into it. It is too soon to tell whether her visit to Taiwan will be a reckless staging post on the road to a terrifying conflict or a clever attempt to call China’s bluff. Right now, Chinese military forces have encircled the island and are undertaking tests of long-range weapons and conventional missiles in response. But the People’s Republic had been bullying Taiwan before this latest escalation.
