Irish Examiner view: US did not back down from China

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen gesture during a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan.

The visit by US House speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan this week was predictable in that it was bookended by Chinese anger and belligerence about perceived foreign interference in a territory the Chinese has claimed as its own since 1949.

Beijing had huffed and puffed over Pelosi’s visit and went as far as to advise of “dire consequences” if she did travel, but both sides in this diplomatic sideshow knew that, had she not made the trip, it would have changed the rules of the game.