The Telegraph: 'Britain must follow Nancy Pelosi’s lead and stand up for Taiwan', Benedict Rogers

The US Speaker has shown the courage, backbone and principle that has all too often been lacking in the democratic world in recent years

Nancy Pelosi deserves the applause of the free world. Every democrat in every democracy should reflect on her example and consider how they too might support Taiwan.

By visiting in the face of blood-curdling threats from Beijing and without the fulsome support of her president, Pelosi has shown the kind of courage, backbone and principle that has all too often been lacking among leaders in the democratic world in recent years.

Beijing has called her visit “extremely dangerous”. No. The visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives to Taiwan is not dangerous. What is extremely dangerous is the absurdly bellicose, disproportionate, wholly insecure and idiotic saber-rattling of the Chinese Communist Party regime. 

In an effort to pre-empt a planned British parliamentary delegation to Taiwan later this year, led by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, the Chinese ambassador to London, Zheng Zeguang, warned of “severe consequences” should MPs set foot in Taiwan. 

But the delegation must not be put off. The MPs should draw strength from the example of their US Congressional colleagues led by Pelosi this week, and go at the earliest opportunity. 

Democrats must never give in to threats, intimidation and bullying from the butchers of Beijing. For too long, kowtowing has been the policy, but no longer. It’s time to stand up – for our friends, our values, our dignity, and for what is right. In the free world, our politicians are perfectly entitled to decide for themselves which parts of the globe to visit. Their travel itineraries should not be made, or amended, in Beijing.

As for “consequences”, it is high time to remind Beijing of the implications if it fails to dial down the rhetoric and pull back its jets. If the free world sends Xi Jinping a clear, unambiguous and determined message of strength, backed up by evidence, it may give his regime pause for thought. But any whiff of mixed messages, of rhetoric not being matched by action, will spell disaster. 

After all, Vladimir Putin walked into Ukraine because he thought the West was too weak to stop him. Time will tell whether or not he was wrong, but clearly in the first few months of the war in Ukraine the free world – at least to some extent – rediscovered its mojo, and the war was not the walk-over Putin expected. 

We must show Xi Jinping that the same is true in Taiwan, that our resolve to defend it is strong, and that any invasion will be met with all the military, economic and diplomatic force possible. It must be made clear to Xi that if he sets foot in Taiwan, it will be disastrous for China. Only this threat will make him hesitate. Any hint of wavering or weakness could mean disaster for us all.

What does this mean in practice? It means arming Taiwan to the hilt, in advance. We have surely learned the lesson from Ukraine that it is better to be prepared than be caught off-guard. 

It means prepositioning arms, equipment and supplies. It means contact, communications and co-ordination between Taiwanese military commanders and those likely to be involved in Taiwan’s defence – the US military first and foremost, but also Australia, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom and some of our European allies. They need to be in touch, get to know each other, ideally visit, understand the lay of the land, meet and make a plan in advance, rather than leaving it too late. 

And it means bringing Taiwan even further into the fold of the free world, recognizing it as a friend and an ally that champions human rights and democracy – and, crucially, as one of our most strategically important trading partners. 

Perhaps the most compelling reason to stand with Taiwan, morals aside, is that it is the world’s number one producer of semiconductors. If Taiwan is absorbed by China, the world’s technology is held to ransom. Not only the lights, but our laptops, our mobile phones and our modern lives could be switched off if Taiwan falls into Beijing’s hands. For that reason alone, it is in all our interests to prevent it happening.

There is one thing we should not do – at least not yet. We should not recognise Taiwan’s independence diplomatically. That would be to play into Beijing’s hands and be overly-provocative and counter-productive. It would give Beijing the excuse to start a war we want to prevent. But we should do everything possible to escalate ties with Taiwan short of full recognition. That means more high-level visits like Pelosi’s. British Cabinet ministers should go, to explore and strengthen ties in trade, technology, education, health, tourism, arts and culture and other areas. We should send a clear signal that Taiwan is our friend and we will stand by them. That’s what Pelosi did by going to Taiwan, and it’s what we must do.

Critics will claim this is war-mongering. In fact, it is the opposite. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher proved that only by staring down the Soviet Union from a position of strength could peace be achieved. We have to look Beijing squarely in the eye and spell out clearly our position on Taiwan. Any ambiguity is now dangerous. Clarity could prevent disaster.

This article was published on The Telegraph on 3 August 2022.