China announced trade sanctions against Taiwan and said it would begin targeted missile drills around the island after Pelosi’s departure, but many Chinese citizens seem to think those steps fell short of their expectations – a prominent Chinese propagandist said the Pelosi’s plane must be shot down by the Chinese military en route to Taiwan. “Don’t make a show of force if you don’t have the force,” one Weibo user wrote shortly after Pelosi’s plane landed, according to Yuan. “What a loss of face!” Yuan reported that the user went on to say that “the government didn’t deserve people waiting for hours to see how history could be made.” “A great nation,” they wrote. “How ironic!” Pelosi’s visit was seen as controversial because Beijing views self-ruled Taiwan as a territory that rightfully belongs to mainland China. The country’s president, Xi Jinping, has said that “reunification” with Taiwan “must be accomplished” and many in the international community believe he is willing to use military force to achieve that goal. And while the US has had a long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding the conflict, tensions escalated earlier this year when President Joe Biden said he would be willing to defend Taiwan if China attacked. Yuan said many users seemed particularly frustrated with China’s Foreign Ministry, which made most of the threats against the US before Pelosi’s trip. “When China said ‘strongly condemn’ and ‘officially declare,’ it was only to amuse ordinary people like us,” wrote another Weibo user, Yuan. “So hard when it comes to internal governance and so cowardly in foreign affairs. Utterly disappointed!” You can read Yuan’s full report here.
