Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in March of 2022, American news outlets and politicians have had their eyes glued on the neighboring state next to mainland China known as Taiwan. Corporate media such as CNN and Fox News have articles with alarming titles reusing and rehashing the same phrases like “military drills” and “democracy in danger.” Politicians like Nancy Pelosi made her controversial visit to Taiwan on August 5 in order to “help out” the people of Taiwan while disregarding decades of mutual agreement between the US and China to never establish hegemony in the state as ruled by the Shanghai Communique.

When talking about diplomacy, I am someone who prefers facts rather than blanket statements like “protecting democracy.” Legally speaking, Taiwan is not its own country. Obviously, it is separate from mainland China with its own right to choose its own government, and in spite of what the corporate media says, China already knows this. It is America that is pushing boundaries and trying to start another useless conflict with China by using Taiwan as a proxy state.

I have focused my attention on the Pro-Taiwan position for quite some time now as I question how it got so popular when it unironically ignores the facts and the law. In 1972, both the United States and China mutually agreed to a set of rules known as the Shanghai Communique. This order placed restrictions on both nations from directly placing hegemony in the break-away state of Taiwan. I believe that this legislation is crucial and should be followed as long as possible. Taiwan throughout its history has always been part of China until after the Chinese Civil War when the Nationalists lost and decided to flee there and claim the territory for their own land. The Communists had no problem with this and only asked that Taiwan cannot become its own country given the historical context and so the Shanghai Communique was put in place to settle the issue. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said this “constructive ambiguity” would be the best option for maintaining peace between the US and China, which I would strongly agree with.

Today, China continues to have no sign of violating the Communique. There is no concrete evidence to say that the ongoing military drills in China are supposed to be malicious and not just plain military drills that have no intention of invading Taiwan. Governments all over the world launch military drills frequently to show strength and pride in their nation. America has a similar concept with not one, but two distinct holidays that glorify the “honor” of joining the military and numerous pop culture films that glorify war such as Top Gun: Maverick. Even if Chinese military drills were starting just recently, it would not be surprising when the United States is being this nosy.

This leads me to my conclusion, which is that America needs to calm down and stop calling the shots on things it has no right to. America has not only been violating the Shanghai Communique under the table by funding secessionist groups in Taiwan to push for complete separation and provoking Chinese suspicion in the first place but it was also in August when Nancy Pelosi point-blank defied the communique by making her visit to Taiwan. At this point, America has made it impossible to try to predict the future consequences as more invasive moves are made against Taiwan.