Financial TimesFinancial Times

Xi Jinping misses his chance to dismiss Nancy Pelosi’s trip as feeble grandstanding

By Tom Mitchell

02 Aug 2022 · 2 min read

Editor's Note

Chinese military drills have been edging into Taiwanese airspace. Xi Jinping has been watching the response to the invasion of Ukraine and is imbuing this trip with historic importance.

The Chinese president’s reaction has imbued the visit with greater importance than it deservesPresident Xi Jinping’s wolf warrior diplomats excel at withering rhetoric when they want to belittle and dismiss people whose words and deeds, as they so often say, have “hurt the feelings” of all 1.4bn people in the People’s Republic of China.

Xi had ample opportunity to instruct China’s diplomats and its state media apparatus, which acts as a hagiography machine for the president, to do the same when it came to Nancy Pelosi’s expected visit to Taiwan.

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