That Xi could even contemplate something like that indicates that his quest for international power and recognition, which includes regular incursions into areas in the South China Sea controlled by countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and even Malaysia, can get quite dangerous.

His handling of Covid-19 and his bizarre zero-Covid policy has come under severe criticism by no less than the World Health Organisation or WHO. It has caused economic and other hardship to over 60 million people and part of the reason may be the reluctance to use more effective Western-produced vaccines instead of the less effective Chinese ones.

Xi’s increasing xenophobia of anything Western and seeming urge to position China at the helm of world power before its time can cause problems. Taiwan is a rather unusual situation which has to be dealt with differently.

One-party state for 40 years

Control of the island - at one time called Formosa - with associated smaller ones, passed back and forth between nations such as Portugal, Netherlands and Japan without any large Chinese population on the island. Japan seized it after the Sino-Japanese war of 1895, ceding control to China after the Second World War.

According to Wikipedia, an account which can easily be corroborated elsewhere, in 1949, after losing control of mainland China in the Chinese civil war, the Kuomintang government withdrew to Taiwan and its leader Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law, beginning the era of some form of ethnic Chinese control.

The Kuomintang ruled Taiwan as a single-party state for 40 years until democratic reforms in the 1980s, which led to the first-ever direct presidential election in 1996. During the post-war period, Taiwan experienced rapid industrialisation and economic growth known as the "Taiwan Miracle", and was known as one of the "Four Asian Tigers".

Despite the communist victory in China in 1949, Taiwan effectively represented China in the UN Security Council which was set up in 1945 with the formation of the United Nations. With four others - the US, France, Britain and the Soviet Union - Taiwan had veto powers on UN decisions. This was a ridiculous piece of injustice given that Taiwan was taken to be a representative of all of China.

That changed in October 1971, when Resolution 2758 was passed by the UN General Assembly and "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" (and thus the ROC) were expelled from the UN and replaced as "China" by the PRC (People's Republic of China). In 1979, the United States switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing, says Wikipedia.

For some 22 years, Taiwan wrongly represented China at the United Nations wielding way too much power than it actually had - control of a small island off the coast of China and less than 20 million people instead of China’s colossal land mass and over one billion people even then.

But such is international diplomacy. If the world capitulates to China’s claim that Taiwan, independent for nearly three quarters of a century, should become part of China, it will be perpetuating yet another instance of severe injustice.

The truth of the matter is that Taiwan has now been independent from 1949, a period of 73 years - it has its own administration, its own government and, since 1996, its own elections. It has a population of 23 million people and has a strong and dynamic economy and is the world’s largest producer of semiconductor chips.

If it is to return to China now, common sense - sadly lacking in international diplomacy - and basic human rights dictate that it should be done via a public referendum which reflects the will of the people. Otherwise, the international community should leave it well alone. Just because President Xi, a despot who has declared himself president for life of China, wants it to be part of China, it should not be so.

Doing what’s best for M’sia

For countries such as Malaysia, caught between two spheres of influence, it’s a rather delicate situation, to say the least. We should keep all our options and defend our sovereign right to make decisions which are best for our country and people.

We should take care not to capitulate to either Chinese or Western interests but act to further our own interests. We should resist all attempts to interfere in our internal affairs, especially in politics, but also in the economic sphere where there have been rather blatant attempts by China to support a corrupt leadership as I explained here and here.

Organisations and people like the MCA and our special envoy to China should refrain from making statements which are prejudicial to the national interest by supporting China’s stand. We don’t need to get caught in that argument.

It is right that our foreign minister has explained that these views don’t represent those of the nation. Pelosi has a right to visit Malaysia and to visit Taiwan, which for all practical purposes is an independent nation.

There is nothing wrong with Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan - it's a meeting of old, long-standing friends. Let’s maintain a guarded perspective over this issue and not be needlessly influenced by either side.

Our own interests come foremost.