War over Taiwan

remains a real possibility - or so we are being told.

My immediate neighbours on one side are Taiwanese. R... has been here for many years. How he managed to get residency and for what purpose remains something of a mystery. He has never informed me and of course I have never asked. 

From what little he has said I gather that he was in some trouble back there - not criminal, but possibly political. He brought both his children out here to live with him when they were about to start high school. 

It was his wife, H...., who stayed in Taiwan. She was a teacher there. H...came out here about seven years ago. She does not really speak English. The Senior Cat and I offered R... to help her with English but the offer was never taken up. I feel for H... Almost certainly she has to be very, very lonely here.

Earlier this year R... came in to see me with some questions about passports and visas and the like. They were planning a trip back to Taiwan. I saw H... over the fence a few days later and managed to make her understand I was asking if she was looking forward to going back. She nodded enthusiastically. There was no doubt she was looking forward to it. 

It still hasn't happened. R... thinks it might not happen now. It is not Covid considerations this time but the potential for the situation between China and Taiwan to escalate into a war over the territory.

This is a ridiculous situation of course. It has been a ridiculous situation for years. If, as China claims, Taiwan is part of China then it is nonsense for the Chinese not to do what they have done in Hong Kong. Why put up with a "self-governing" region that has consistently declared itself to be independent? 

Why does almost every other country make the same claim?

H... is very disappointed of course. Of late she has been even quieter than usual. She keeps her head down and scarcely leaves the house. I know - from our awkward, stilted, limited conversations - that she is increasingly anxious about the situation.

I suspect it is very convenient for China to have that point of tension for now. It isn't about ruling Taiwan. It is about ruling the rest of the world. Do what we want and we will leave Taiwan alone. It is bullying. It is a sort of blackmail and it seems other countries are giving in to it.

That is why Pelosi's visit was so dangerous.