What in the World Are Washington and Beijing Doing?

Let’s be clear: Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan was not a great opportunity to show America’s support for the island; it did not chasten Beijing to exert greater restraint toward Taipei. To the contrary—countless China and foreign policy specialists predicted it would produce a major, likely sustained, coercive Chinese reaction that will deepen our current slide toward conflict in the Sino-U.S. relationship.

And guess what? That is exactly what is now happening.

Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan was a stunt, likely intended as a last hurrah before leaving office as speaker of the House, designed to cement her legacy as a tough opponent of China and upholder of human rights.

Well, good for her. The only problem is that by traveling to Taiwan she has given Beijing an ideal opportunity to exercise a combined force simulation of an attack on each of Taiwan’s ports and put virtually the last nail in the coffin of the U.S. policy that has helped sustain peace in Asia for decades: the One China policy.

Read the full article in Tribune News Service.