Sino-Taiwan Crisis (2022)
Article
August 20, 2022
The China-Taiwan Crisis is a strained relationship between China and Taiwan in July and August 2022 caused by the scheduled visit of Speaker of the 52nd US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. The Chinese authorities reacted sharply negatively to the possibility of such a trip. During the start of Pelosi's trip, China began live-fire military exercises in the waters of Fujian Province, which shares a water border with Taiwan. The US has also increased its naval presence in the region. The visit of Nancy Pelosi was supposed to be accompanied by the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. As a result, the planned trip was postponed. The crisis prompted top Chinese and US leaders to hold a pre-arranged phone call in which Joe Biden stated that the United States was strongly opposed to any attempt to unilaterally change the status of Taiwan, while Xi Jinping, in turn, urged Biden to uphold the "one China" principle and warned the American president that "he who plays with fire will get burned." According to some experts, the so-called "populist" and "senseless" arrival of the highest US official Nancy Pelosi provoked a wider discussion and revision of the further policy of the Chinese authorities towards the island and the United States.