9DASHLINE: SEOUL CANNOT HAVE A CREDIBLE INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY WITHOUT TAIWAN
Whether in Seoul, Brussels, or Washington, pundits have been arguing about the merits, timing, and repercussions of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August. Whether her journey was a clever move and to Taiwan’s benefit or instead provided China with a handy pretext for escalation in the Indo-Pacific, Beijing’s heavy-handed retaliation was unprecedented, with tensions in the Taiwan Strait spiking to the highest level in decades. Through its response, including large-scale military drills and ballistic missile tests around Taiwan, intensified economic coercion, and harsh rhetoric, the message Beijing wanted to send was, however, not new: the People’s Republic of China (PRC) does not compromise on Taiwan.
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