A year after Nancy Pelosi’s historic visit, is Taiwan more secure?

Only a 12 months in the past, China launched large live-fire drills to protest Nancy Pelosi’s go to to Taiwan, the primary by a U.S. Home Speaker since 1997.

In a single sense, the navy workout routines represented a failure for China’s ruling Communist Get together (CCP), which couldn’t browbeat the hardy Pelosi into canceling her journey. The then-Home speaker saved a excessive profile throughout her go to, showing on reside tv with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and lauding the island’s democracy.

But the Pelosi go to additionally allowed China to show its rising martial would possibly. It was not the prelude to an invasion — as some within the Beltway feared — or perhaps a gown rehearsal for one. Quite, Pelosi’s go to marked an inflection level after which China sharply escalated its gray-zone navy operations close to Taiwan, eroding the island’s safety even because the U.S. has sought to deal with Taiwan’s protection shortcomings each via arms gross sales and nearer cooperation with its Indo-Pacific allies.