Max Baucus: China Has No Choice But to Respond to Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit

EXCERPT:

BAUCUS: “Oh yeah, clearly there is, but the United States has already done that. We don’t have to do it more. Taiwanese know where we stand. But this is a provocation, because the Chinese government is very opposed to the visit. Don’t forget, she is speaker, she’s not just an ordinary member of Congress, add to that, she is a very strong hawk, she is very critical of China. And really, what this is doing is pushing the support of democracy a little closer to crossing the line into independence. That’s the real problem here. And the more that — Taiwan will not formally declare independence, that would be disaster, but they’re getting close to it. If they get close to it, China has no recourse but to take action. This is existential to China. It was driven home to me when I was serving in the Tibet; Taiwan, Hong Kong, it’s nonnegotiable, and we are playing with fire when we get pretty close to the line, and Pelosi is pushing us much, much closer to recognizing Taiwan as an independent country. And once we get there, we’re going to pay a price.”