Fighting words
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a group of lawmakers have embarked on their tour of Asian nations, doing so without making any announcement about a stop in Taiwan. That hasn’t stopped the ongoing speculation as to whether or not she should carry through with the visit, both in western media and inside of China. And the Chinese appear to be growing increasingly hostile to the idea, issuing threats through state-run media.
The lack of an announcement about her plans may already be falling apart. This isn’t official, but reports are emerging that Pelosi will indeed land in Taiwan, but only off-the-record sources are cited.
As I mentioned at the top, China is doing more than just suggesting that this could go badly. One prominent commentator with the Chinese-state-owned Global Times issued a warning in a tweet (which has since been blocked by Twitter) declaring that China’s air force could stop Pelosi’s plane in mid-flight and force it to turn around. And if American warplanes attempt to escort her plane, that would be considered an “invasion” and the door would be open to shooting the Speaker’s plane down. I suppose it doesn’t get much more blunt than that. (Business Insider)
Xijin’s comment about shooting the plane down actually came in a follow-up to the portion quoted above. He said that taking down Pelosi’s plane could be an option if attempts to turn the plane around were “ineffective.
