The last time then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went on a diplomatic mission, the world almost changed. It was August 2, 2022, and despite the stiff resistance from China, and a token opposition from President Joe Biden, Pelosi went ahead with her visit to Taiwan, a country China claims is its territory. Beijing’s retaliation was quick and unequivocal — several military exercises that may have given both the Taiwanese and Biden more than a few moments of anxiety.
On Wednesday, Pelosi accompanied a high-level delegation of US Representatives to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh), and we all know how much the Chinese love the saint from Tibet. Beijing had condemned the visit in advance. Pelosi’s visit comes days after the US Congress passed a bill that urged China to start a dialogue with Tibetan leaders to find a solution for the longstanding conflict.
Well, for starters, China thinks of Tibet as part of its sovereign territory, even if it has autonomous status. The Chinese even have a local name for it — Xizang. The Chinese annexed this region in the early 1950s and by 1959, after the failure of the armed uprising of 1959, the Dalai Lama had to flee Tibet and take refuge in India.
In 1965, the Tibet Autonomous Region became a provincial-level division of China. The difference between Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in 2022 and the current Congressional delegation is that the Taiwan mission was a Democrat-only de.