Trump State Department Official Predicts China Will Tone Down Rhetoric over Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit
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China’s threats to the U.S. about Nancy Pelosi traveling to Taiwan will “stop before Sunday,” a former State Department adviser under the Trump administration told National Review, saying that China’s militaristic rhetoric means “nothing.”
“You already see the deescalation of the promised ‘ball of fire,'” former China policy adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Miles Yu, told National Review Institute in an interview, predicting the “militaristic fanfare will stop before Sunday.”
China sent repeated threats directed at the U.S. and the speaker of the house before and during her trip to Taiwan, both in militaristic rhetoric, and the posting of an ominous video of missile launches.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned the U.S. for a third time on Monday that Pelosi’s visit would be a “gross interference in China’s internal affairs” and that it would lead to “very serious developments and consequences.”
Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Tuesday despite the threats and the reports that the White House was trying to dissuade her from visiting the island.
Yu called Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan “a big dramatic triumph for America and for the Taiwanese,” adding that if the trip had been canceled, it would have been a “diplomatic victory” for the Chinese.
“China is not going to stop at Taiwan. If China takes over Taiwan, next they’re going to have a fight with Japan, with Vietnam, with India, and the entire South China Sea. You have to stop at the beginning, and that’s why the defense of Taiwan is so important,” he said.
He also blasted the Biden administration for trying to stop Pelosi from visiting Taiwan and for its appeasement of China.
“We formulate our policy not based on what’s best for the national interest of this country, but based on how mad China might get at us,” Yu said, calling the appeasement of China “total nonsense.”
National Review‘s national-security correspondent Jimmy Quinn asked Yu his thoughts on the Bloomberg report that the White House is lobbying Senate Democrats to pause a bill that would change America’s policy on Taiwan.
The bill, now delayed until September by the Foreign Relations panel, would reportedly give Taiwan $4.5 billion in security aid and would designate the island a major non-NATO ally.
“The idea that the White House will tell the Congress ‘tone down the language’ is preposterous, because if you look at the trajectory, Congress in recent years has passed all China-related bills with an overwhelming majority, in most cases as unanimous,” Yu said.
“China always raises their anger level to the maximum, and then see how the U.S. will react. In most cases, we will cave,” Yu said, calling on the U.S. to stop its “anger management” on China.
