Chess Pieces: Taiwan and the Great Game

What really happened during and after Pelosi’s visit?

(L-R) U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) poses for photographs with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen at the president's office in Taipei, Taiwan, on Aug. 3, 2022. Handout/Getty Images

Commentary

In diplomacy, there always is the public face and the secret or sub rosa dimension. Secrecy is a hallmark of diplomatic relations. During the secret negotiations between China, President Richard Nixon, and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, both Nixon and Kissinger wanted to conduct their diplomacy such that “the success of the secret negotiations with China overshadowed the fact that the process was non-democratic.”