China Disappointment at Taiwan Response Puts Pressure on Xi
- Outspoken editor says response didn’t meet public expectations
- ‘Chairman Rabbit’ warns of hit to morale, party credibility
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China’s failure to follow through on some of the more extreme measures proposed by nationalists to stop US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from visiting Taiwan has left some on the mainland disappointed.
Ahead of Pelosi’s arrival on Tuesday, China warned repeatedly that the US would pay a heavy price for the visit, with President Xi Jinping telling Joe Biden that “whoever plays with fire will get burned.” Hu Xijin, the prominent former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, suggested in a now-deleted tweet that Chinese warplanes could “forcibly dispel Pelosi’s plane.”