For Taiwan this trip by Nancy Pelosi is about support, but also legitimacy.
Taiwan needs America’s support, military and otherwise. But it craves legitimacy. It craves recognition that this is not some “renegade province” as Beijing calls it, but a proud country, with its own democratic government and a determination to keep it that way.
That is why a visit by the speaker of the US House of Representatives means so much. America is what Taiwan looks up to, not China.
You can see it in the excited way Ms Pelosi’s arrival here is being reported on Taiwan’s many TV news channels.
They have been studying everything from the colour of her outfits to the height of her heels – very high for an 82-year-old apparently – and the fact that she “looked like Audrey Hepburn in that photo of her with President John F. Kennedy back in 1961”.
There is a full-on Pelosi lovefest happening in Taipei, the island’s capital.
“We are used to the threats from China,” a female banker told us. “In the long run this trip will be good for the development of US-Taiwan relations.”
“China is bluffing,” said a 70-year-old man. “It may retaliate in the short term, but if Beijing over-reacts, it will be punished by the United States.”
“China shouldn’t bully Taiwan like this,” a 50-year-old house wife told us. “This trip is normal… if China continues like this it will only alienate more countries.”
BBC
