One thing to consider is that one of the United States' favourite moves is to bait its enemies into a situation that plays to the US (and the West) advantage. Consider some events of the past few decades:
- They tacitly gave Saddam Hussein the OK to invade Kuwait assuring them that they would look the other way.
- Libya and Syria voluntarily gave up their WMD programs (and thus their deterrence) because the West promised them they'd be welcomed into the "international community" with open arms.
- They backed Russia into a corner and left them with no option but to either do nothing and let the Ukrainian Armed Forces roll into the Donbass unopposed, or attack Ukraine preemptively.
And just like they baited Iraq and Russia into becoming the "aggressors" (thus justifying them being ostracized and sanctioned to hell), I'm more and more convinced that the US would have welcomed China shooting Nancy Pelosi's plane down. Because even if such an action didn't trigger Third World War immediately, sacrificing the old lady would hand the US the perfect pretext in a silver plate . Pelosi would have been elevated to the status of martyr in the fight between "democracy and autocracy". The level of demonisation of China would dwarf the current wave of Russophobia. The propaganda machine would mobilise the US population against China and give the government a free pass for everything (let's not forget that ultimately foreign policy objectives are inextricably linked to domestic policy ones).
From that point of view, China shooting down the plane played to the interests of the US and to the detriment of China's. I completely understand how disappointing it was for China to not just go for it. But as many others have mentioned, China has to be smart and methodical, to avoid falling for the traps and schemes that the US has done once and again, and bide its time. WW3 right now benefits no one but the US.
- They tacitly gave Saddam Hussein the OK to invade Kuwait assuring them that they would look the other way.
- Libya and Syria voluntarily gave up their WMD programs (and thus their deterrence) because the West promised them they'd be welcomed into the "international community" with open arms.
- They backed Russia into a corner and left them with no option but to either do nothing and let the Ukrainian Armed Forces roll into the Donbass unopposed, or attack Ukraine preemptively.
And just like they baited Iraq and Russia into becoming the "aggressors" (thus justifying them being ostracized and sanctioned to hell), I'm more and more convinced that the US would have welcomed China shooting Nancy Pelosi's plane down. Because even if such an action didn't trigger Third World War immediately, sacrificing the old lady would hand the US the perfect pretext in a silver plate . Pelosi would have been elevated to the status of martyr in the fight between "democracy and autocracy". The level of demonisation of China would dwarf the current wave of Russophobia. The propaganda machine would mobilise the US population against China and give the government a free pass for everything (let's not forget that ultimately foreign policy objectives are inextricably linked to domestic policy ones).
From that point of view, China shooting down the plane played to the interests of the US and to the detriment of China's. I completely understand how disappointing it was for China to not just go for it. But as many others have mentioned, China has to be smart and methodical, to avoid falling for the traps and schemes that the US has done once and again, and bide its time. WW3 right now benefits no one but the US.
