♪ >> headlands on how to zero. iraq's influential share leader located outside or, is demanding an early election as the dialogue with the government is proven to be futile. he urged his supporters to continue with their sit in at the government building until their demands are met. there has been a political deadlock since last year's election. >> most of the people are tired

of the ruling class. the whole of it, including some of those who belong to our block. therefore, take advantage of my presence to end corruption. good willing there will be no place for the old guard, regardless of their affiliations. this will happen first through a peaceful and democratic process. second, an early democratic elections should take place after dissolving the current parliament. reporter: the u.s. president has filed any executive order executive order aimed at making it easier to get abortions. in june of the supreme court overturned a landmark ruling that guaranteed a woman's right to the procedure. china has begun military exercises around taiwan, just hours after the u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi ended her controversial visit to the island. beijing had warned the u.s. of serious consequences if the trip went ahead.

talks to revive the 2015 iran nuclear deal are due to resume on thursday after months of a stalemate. but the u.s. says its expectations are in check. to iran and washington have been holding indirect negotiations to revive the deal that breakdown in 2018 when the u.s., under president donald trump, pulled out. the first grain cargo ship to leave ukraine since the russian invasion has sailed through the bosphorus strait in turkey to go to lebanon. inspectors boarded the ship earlier to check its cargo and document. the ship is being monitored by a joint coordination center in istanbul, set up under a deal signed last month by russia and ukraine. the ship left the ukrainian port of odessa on monday. those are the headlines. the news continues on al jazeera ter "inside story." ♪

♪ >> standing with taiwan in defiance of china. u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi has ended her controversial visit to the self-ruled island. it's triggered an angry response from beijing. but how will taipei and washington deal with the fallout? this is "inside story." ♪ hello and welcome to the program. i'm kim vanell. nancy pelosi has become the most senior u.s. politician to visit taiwan in 25 years. the u.s. house speaker spent less than a day on the self-ruled island. but china, which claims taiwan as part of its territory, called the trip a direct challenge to its sovereignty. beijing had issued threats and warnings before pelosi even

touched down, but america's third-most powerful politician was undeterred, saying washington was committed to preserving taiwan's democracy. china is responding with live-fire military drills and an import ban on taiwanese product we'll bring in our guests in a moment, but first, this report from mohammed jamjoom. reporter: for u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi, a high-profile trip to taiwan fraught with both complications and contradiction s. america's third-most powerful politician, repeating washington's commitment to protect democracy on the self-governed island, while also respecting beijing's so-called "one china policy." today, the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy. >> america's determination to preserve democracy here in taiwan and around the world remains ironclad. reporter: taiwanese president tsai ing-wen, who gave pelosi

one of the highest civilian honors, promised to defend the island from beijing's threat. >> aggression against democratic taiwan would have a tremendous impact on the security of the entire indo-pacific. facing deliberately heightened military threats taiwan will not , back down. we will firmly uphold our nation's sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defense for democracy. reporter: china, which considers taiwan a part of its territory, has said it wants a peaceful reunification, and views pelosi's visit as a direct provocation. >> taiwan's tsai ing-wen and her ilk are clinging to the u.s. and turning their backs on national justice. these behaviors that go against the trend of times will not change the international consensus of one china, and will not change the historic trend that taiwan will inevitably return to the motherland. those who play with fire will not come to a good end, and those who offend china will be punished.

reporter: even during pelosi's visit, china's reaction was fast and furious, suspending imports and exports of several goods to and from taiwan, conducting joint air and sea live ammunition drills near taiwan, and summoning the u.s. ambassador in beijing. pelosi's trip has come to an end, but with chinese-american relations at such a low point, it's not clear yet what the long-term repercussions of this visit will be. mohammed jamjoom for "inside story." host: let's look more closely at the u.s. relationship with taiwan. washington does not have formal diplomatic ties with the island, but maintains what it calls a policy of "strategic ambiguity." it recognizes the chinese government in beijing, but not china's territorial claim to taiwan. the u.s. does supply weapons to taipei under its "1979 taiwan relations act." the island is a major economic and technology partner to the u.s.

it supplies more than half of the world semiconductor's. china sees taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be united and hasn't ruled out using force. ♪ kim: bringing our guests. in taipei, vincent chao, former director of the political division, taipei economic and cultural representative office in the u.s., and a former chief of staff to both the taiwan national security council, and foreign minister. in miami, june teufel dreyer, a professor of political science at the university of miami, and editor of the book "taiwan in the era of tsai ing-wen: changes and challenges." and in beijing, henry huiyao wang, founder and president of the center for china and globalization, and director of the chinese people's institute of foreign affairs. a very warm welcome to you all. i'd like to start with you henry huiyao wang in beijing with your thoughts on nancy pelosi's

visit, and the reaction that we've seen so far to that visit. guest: well, i think this is a very bad move, actually, on the part of nancy pelosi, because she came at -- the bilateral relations between china and the u.s. are already at their lowest point. also, the world is facing a pandemic and the ukraine-russian crisis and the energy crisis and many other crises as well. just had president biden talking last week and we also had the five high level dialogue between senior officials between china and the u.s. in the last two months. so we don't want to see this happen for nancy pelosi's personal gains, because she has been branded, she has made her

name as being anti-china and not in good relations with the development of u.s.-china relations. i think she's doing it for political motivation and for the domestic politics. i think that she went to taiwan and made this unprecedented move . so i think is going to damage not only the u.s.-china relations, but also in the serious crisis to the strait of taiwan. this will be breaking a lot of the status quo, and i think there's going to be a lot of consequences in the future. we are seeing the deterioration of relations. kim: i just want to pause you there and cross over to taipei, vincent chao, what do you make of nancy pelosi's reception in taiwan, what does her visit mean for taiwan? guest: to start, henry's point

about anti-china, i think what he is really trying to say is she's been pro-democracy, basically her whole life. if anything i think she's , pro-china democracy and she was in tiananmen. she showed support for democracy in china and in taiwan in the past. when it comes down to is that pelosi has a great track record when it comes to supporting human rights and democracy around the world and her coming here to taiwan is second nature . when we look at it, there is no breaking of the status quo. newt gingrich as speaker came here in 1997. the chinese did not dispatch fighter jets, they did not did not announce live fire exercises did not engage in economic sanctions. it is a bit disingenuous to say that china has not changed. china has changed. this is clearly within precedent. the reaction this time is far above and beyond what we saw the last time around. clearly something within the ccp has changed and it's difficult to imagine a scenario where countries around the region and

the u.s. are not going to respond to that. kim: june teufel dreyer, is there anything that you would add to that? guest: yes, i believe the speaker from beijing when he said that this is upsetting the status quo. china has been upsetting the status quo and the taiwan strait for quite some time now. with a lot of provocative actions and talks about timetables for unification, which they persist in calling reunification, even though taiwan has never been part of the people's republic of china . i was appalled at the effort to rewrite history here. the spokeswoman for the chinese foreign ministry saying that taiwan has always been a province of china. this is simply not true. it was declared a province in the qing dynasty for less than 10 years.

less than 10 years, when japan took it over and made it a colony of japan. and, you know, lying about the facts is not going to help soothe the situation. so i think pelosi's visit was designed, as vincent was saying, as a show of support against china's trying to change the status quo. kim: before we move on, way does taiwan matter so much to nancy pelosi into the u.s.? guest: it matters for a number of reasons. one of the reasons nancy pelosi gave, is that she has always been a strong supporter of democracy around the world as has the united states in general, which immediately puts it against china. which is defending authoritarianism. a second reason is strategic -- taiwan is strategically

extremely important, because it is the part of the first island chain of defense against aggression by the people's liberation army. and it is -- chinese military strategists have referred to taiwan as the a buckle in the chain that keeps the people's liberation army bottled up behind the first island chain, and taking over taiwan, would mean getting access to a very important port, and also, an entryway. they have specifically said an , entryway to the blue pacific and guam. and guam is a u.s. territory and of course halfway toward hawaii. so that bothers american strategic planners. kim: of course. i would like to go back to henry

huiyao wang in beijing. china obviously views this visit as a violation. what are the chances that you think china would go beyond live -fire drills, and actually take military action in taiwan? >> well, i think this is really breaking the pattern and the norm in the last four or five decades, actually breaking the status quo. because in 1979, the communique established by china and the u.s., it stipulates that the u.s. can maintain culture and commercial ties with taiwan but don't officialize. not official ties. that is a very clear statement there. that's the prerequisite that you establish diplomatic ties between the u.s. and china, and also for 181 countries around the world that china established diplomatic ties with. kim: but this is not establishing diplomatic ties, this is just a visit from the house speaker.

guest: well, she is the third highest-ranking official in the united states. she's official. she is official, and that is an official visit. that's a fact. also, taiwan is a part of china for the long history. it has always been a part of china. it is the first time for me to hear that is not a part of china. that is really nonsense. i think that she really work that pattern, and that is why chinese always response. china did not provoke this. this is provoked by nancy pelosi. the military exercises around taiwan would be merely a response. they have to. there's anti-succession law , there is the independence that the taiwanese authority is trying to seek, and then of course, it is escalating the situation. kim: do you think china would actually take military action in taiwan?

guest: i think china has already, you know, there was a flyover in the middle of the strait last night, and also there will be military exercises around taiwan in the third to the seventh. it has been announced already. absolutely, there is action taken. that is very obvious. that is also setting a record there as well. in responding to this visit by nancy pelosi. kim: vincent chao in taipei, our everyday taiwanese people concerned about the retc ratcheting up of tensions concerned about these live fire , drills that are going to be happening? guest: i think what's unfortunate is that provocations and military intimidation and coercion to a certain degree have become part and parcel of everyday life here in taipei and we've really seen a ramping up of tensions from the drc. -- from that p.r.c.. military jets flying across our

air defense identification zone . academic course of actions, including most recently, the banning of a few food products. so it has become just a part of routine life. that has its pitfalls on its own, but it is also an unfortunate consequence of the relationship, or the lack of one we see today. but i do have to emphasize one point, if we take this idea of china meaning the people's republic of china, taiwan has never been part of the prc. and this is a historical fact. there's never been a people's liberation army soldier here in taiwan. the prc has never occupied or set foot in taiwan. so it becomes very disingenuous to say that taiwan has become it -- or that it is part of china for a very long time. it is partially what i wanted to respond to. but secondly on the "taiwan relations act," and the three communiques and all of that, nowhere within any of these documents does it mention that no speaker can visit taiwan. or that no members of the

legislative branch can visit taiwan, or members of the executive branch for that matter . this is not part of what is written literature within the three communiques. we have to be very clear-eyed, because we don't want to stumble into the next crisis based on hearsay. and we don't want to stumble into next crisis based on word of mouth. so we have to be very clear what is in the text, and what is keeping with the status quo. and when we have a visit by speaker of the house that has clearly taken place 25 years ago, it becomes very difficult for us in 2022 to say that this is completely against the status quo. it is not true. kim: i want to talk about u.s. policy toward taiwan, but i just want to a moment, because president biden caused controversy back in may when he publicly stated that the u.s. would defend taiwan if beijing were to attack. reporter: you did not want to get involved in the ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons, are you willing to get involved literally to defend taiwan if it comes to that? >> yes. reporter: you are?

>> that is the commitment we made. it is a commitment we made. look, here is the situation. we agree with the one china policy. we signed onto it. all the attendant agreements made from there. but the idea that it could be taken by force, just taken by force, it is not appropriate. it will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in in ukraine. kim: now, the white house quickly insisted that washington's policy had not in fact changed. june teufel dreyer, has the biden administration been confused about its policy? was that just a gaffe on the part of president biden? guest: it may well have been a gaffe. in fact, what china has been doing is insisting on its definition of a one china policy, which is that there is but one china and its capital is in beijing and taiwan is a part of that.

that is not what the united states signed on to. the shanghai communique said very clearly that the united states acknowledges that that is the chinese view. it did not say that it agreed with china. right? so china has been trying to , shift what the united states meant in the shanghai communique. it has, in fact, been trying to shift the status quo for many years, and there is always going to be pushback. in the united states, public opinion is strongly supportive of taiwan's ability to determine its own future. many of your top officials in taiwan were educated within the united states, and it is very important to us not to let a

democracy which has been a good friend of the united succumbed to the treatment that beijing has meted out in xinjiang and in hong kong. kim: ok. i would like to cross over to you, henry huiyao wang. do you have any response to what you just heard there? guest: i think that in the communique, they were saying that people across the taiwan strait all recognize that they are chinese. that there is one china. also we have the '92 consensus . there was even a meeting between president xi and the taiwanese leader than so definitely a , little before the before the chinese took over, millions of mainland chinese toward taiwan. and also, people in those places share the same culture, same language, same food, and same heritage. it is like china. you know, you have a different

interpretation problem. kim: we don't want to get stuck on the sticking point of history, because, obviously, we have conflicting views here. i want to get into the analysis of this before i move on from you henry huiyao wang. ,is this a bilateral spat between the u.s. and china? what are the global implications of this do you think? guest: it has tremendous impact. china is a stabilizer of the global economy. china contributes over one-third of global gdp growth. china actually is the largest trading nation with 130 countries. and even with the trade war going on, china part two the u.s., import-experts have increased in the last several years. so it is a stabilizer. we don't want war. we are experiencing that ukraine-russia crisis also the

pandemic going on. the world needs both the u.s. and china to have more respect ability to see the world really going in the right direction. so we don't want to really be plagued by these domestic politics, that china becomes a scapegoat. also, we see that in the five high-level talks and meetings between president xi and president biden, they all said they don't want to have a cold war with china. do the deeds. not just the words. that is really the problem. china has been played as a political -- taiwan has been played as a political pawn against china, which is very unfortunate. kim: ok. vincent chao, and taipei as we said earlier china has responded with an import ban on taiwanese products. is taiwan able to extend the academic price? fish is a far-reaching relationship. that is true.

the economic and trade relationship that we have with china. it is an unfortunate fact and it is true that a majority of trade does go through china and that china is a major center for taiwanese businesses. and so, that's an important part of taiwan's economy. it is a bit disappointing when both china and taiwan are members of the wto, when we see arbitrary trade rules enforced on taiwanese products without due process. when we see trade being really played as a an economic card against this relationship. and frankly, that is painful for a lot of taiwanese businesses and it is also something we don't hope to see, but we do have to put it in this context. i mean, taiwan is an industrial powerhouse. we're a high-tech society. obviously, trade on agriculture is important, and agriculture provides a lot of jobs here in taiwan, but it is one aspect of a multi-faceted relationship. let me end on this note, this trade dispute with china has really highlighted the need of why trips like pelosi's are so important, because taiwan does need economically diverse funds , and as a free market,

capitalist society, we need to provide incentives, preferably through free trade agreements. this is something that we're looking very keenly at and we do hope that we can make progress on a free trade agreement with the u.s. in the future. kim: june teufel dreyer, we are coming to the end of the program , but i want to ask you, tsai ing-wen has posited herself as a defender of taiwan's integrity. what kind of position are they in now? guest: i think this can only enhance her popularity. now, she is firm-limited. she is in her second term as president. but i predict with some certainty that her popularity ratings, which were already pretty good, because, as you know, taiwan was a beacon for the world countries in terms of dealing with the covid outbreak. her popularity ratings were very high and they are only going to hire as a result of this is it. kim: lee think there is

international concern that china -u.s. tensions over taiwan may divert attention from ukraine internationally? guest: that is a very interesting question, because initially, it was written about that one of the reasons xi jinping was being so aggressive towards taiwan, which, by the way, prompted nancy pelosi's visit, is that it was losing. and it was dispirited by what was happening in ukraine. and i thought that the united states would be so distracted by what was happening in ukraine that it would not do anything to counteract increasing chinese aggression against taiwan. as this visit shows, that view was mistaken. kim: all right. i think that is about all we have time for. there's obviously so much we could more we could talk about, but for time, we will have to leave it there. a big thank you to all of our guests, vincent chao, june teufel dreyer, and henry huiyao

wang. and thank you, too, for watching. you can see the program again anytime by visiting our website, aljazeera.com. and for further discussion, go to our facebook page, that's facebook.com/ajinsidestory. we can also turn the conversation over on twitter, we are at @ajinsidestory, or you can get me @kimvanelle. from me, kim and the whole team here in doha, bye for now. ♪

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