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After raging at US and Japan over Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, China faces dilemma: escalate further or court its neighbours?
- Beijing’s angry response, including military drills encircling Taiwan and diplomatic walkouts, risk alienating other countries, observers warn
- Southeast Asian countries have urged all sides to show restraint and have warned that miscalculations risk further inflaming the situation
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China’s response to Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit – including a display of military force and angry attacks on Japan and the United States – has upped the ante diplomatically, but now faces a dilemma over whether to escalate things further or work to keep its other neighbours onside.
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In the wake of the US House Speaker’s trip last week, Beijing has attempted an effective blockade of Taiwan with unprecedented live-fire drills, sanctioned Pelosi and her family and suspended lines of communication with Washington over issues such as maritime security and climate change.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi also staged two walkouts at a regional gathering of foreign ministers in Cambodia – a rarely used diplomatic tactic – to register Beijing’s rage at being accused of a “gross overreaction”.
But on Monday China will welcome South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin for his first visit to China, days after President Yoon Suk-yeol declined to meet Pelosi when she visited his country.
Unlike Japan, South Korea has largely refrained from commenting on the Taiwan question and Pelosi’s visit to the island, despite Yoon’s pro-Washington stance.
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Wang also held talks with New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta in Cambodia.
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