When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived on the tarmac in Taipei, she was greeted by the Republic of China’s foreign minister and a flock of government officials. The story changed when Pelosi arrived in South Korea.
Only members of the US Embassy were present at the base of the ramp to greet her.
Yoon administration and the ROK National Assembly did not send any delegation to welcome Pelosi’s arrival last night. Multiple reports claimed that Pelosi didn’t like the situation. https://t.co/hisVv9gNHB
— Korea Pro (@southkoreapro) August 4, 2022
It is this way that the Financial TimesThe scene was described.
When Pelosi last visited South Korea as House Speaker in 2015, she met then president Park Geun-hye and South Korea’s then foreign minister.
But Yoon’s office said this week that he was unable to meet Pelosi because he was on holiday, while foreign minister Park Jin is in Cambodia for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Yoon, believed to be in Seoul at the time, spoke with Pelosi instead by telephone on Thursday afternoon. Yoon met with Pelosi at the theatre on Wednesday night and had dinner afterwards with actors.
“I can’t understand that the parliamentary leader of our ally visited Korea and our president is not meeting her. Being on vacation cannot be an excuse,” Yoo Seung-min, a high-profile former lawmaker from Yoon’s conservative ruling People’s Power party, wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
“What can we make of the fact that he watched a play at a theatre and had a gathering [with the actors], but is still not meeting the US House Speaker?”
While I supported Pelosi’s trip (Pelosi’s Planned Trip to the Republic of China Leaves the ChiComs Gnashing Teeth But Drawing Bipartisan Support in Congress), her junket through the Western Pacific demonstrated that US power is slipping from our grip. I’ve previously posted on how China is actively using their Hunter Biden strategy to buy heads of states, if not entire governments, on island nations that used to be virtual protectorates of the United States and Australia (China Seeks to Buy Eight Pacific Island Nations While Joe Biden and His State Department Are Comatose). Unfortunately, rather than challenge these moves head-on, we’ve sat on the sidelines and let China sign deals that give the Chinese military basing rights and the right to intervene in those counties to put down civil disorder militarily.
Another clue that the Biden White House is out of ideas is that the White House and the Department of Defense tried to prevent Pelosi’s trip for fear of making China’s President Xi angry. We are moving towards preemptive surrender when our national leadership fears what their principal strategic enemy will do if one our branches of government visited a US ally.
Reports indicate that South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s calculated disrespect to Pelosi was driven by his fear of China. This comes from the Financial Times article quoted previously:
Kim Jae-chun, a professor of political science at Sogang University in Seoul and a former adviser to Park’s conservative government, said Yoon “seems reluctant to meet Pelosi as he feels burdened by Beijing’s growing criticism of Seoul’s diplomatic and security policies”.
Kim added: “This gives the wrong impression, both domestically and internationally, that he is trying to curry favour with Beijing. Pelosi is an important US figure. When the leaders of Taiwan and Japan all meet her, Yoon not meeting her is not a good choice.”
It Washington PostSimilar observation made by the author:
However [President Yoon’s]The South Korean conservative president was accused of intentionally shunning Pelosi because of fears of retaliation by Beijing. The tensions between Beijing and Taiwan were exacerbated by her controversial trip to Taiwan.
…
<Yoon, who took office in May, pledged to “rebuild” the U.S.-South Korean alliance, which he said deteriorated under outgoing liberal president Moon Jae-in. Moon’s administration tried to broker a peaceful agreement with Pyongyang with North Korean allies, including China.South Korea, despite Yoon promising a stronger stance against Beijing, still follows a very fine line. South Korea’s right-leaning Chosun Ilbo newspaper ran an editorial titled, “Yoon’s avoidance of Pelosi meeting may send wrong signals to the U.S. and China.” The paper warned the South Korean government that a “submissive attitude” toward China can alter geopolitical relationships.
I would submit that the only reason that a man elected on a “get tough with China” platform is keeping his head down is that he no longer trusts the US to back him up if he goes nose-to-nose with Beijing.
Totally unrelated, I’m sure, is
Pelosi arrived in South Korea at the same time as Pelosi. #NorthKoreaThe Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was withdrawn “legally” and the DPRK has the right of self-defense. According to media reports, this was reported based on the UN statement made by the DPRK Permanent Mission. pic.twitter.com/c2rP3nxf1g
— Valeria (@Valere_ia) August 3, 2022
Biden’s weakness is dangerous for world peace. The enemy does what it will; our friends fear, and Biden shakes his head in the anticipation of the next disclosure of business deals made by the criminal family that he heads.
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