This week we’re interrupting our summer hiatus to bring you insight into US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan the most senior elected US official to visit Taiwan in a quarter of a century. In retaliation, China has engaged its military in days of drills that escalated tensions to their highest in years. 

What did Nancy Pelosi hope to achieve by going to Taiwan and can we say that the trip was a success? How will this visit affect China-US relations and what are the pros and cons of the vague U.S foreign policy towards Taiwan, the so-called “strategic ambiguity”? 

To unpack all of this and much more, we talk to twin sisters Meia Nouwen and Veerle Nouwens.

Meia is a senior fellow for Chinese Defence Policy and Military Modernisation, and the Defence and Military Analysis Programme, at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based think tank. She helps us dig deeper into what China’s display of force can tell us about its military capabilities and how far China has to go before they’re ready for a full-fledged invasion.

Veerle is a senior research fellow for Asia Studies and head of the Indo-Pacific Programme at the International Security Studies department of the Royal United Services Institute focusing on geopolitical relations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Sophia Yan, China correspondent for The Telegraph and NuVoices Board member, hosts this week’s episode.

This episode was produced by Saga Ringmar with help from Lauren Lau, our newest podcast team members! Big kudos for their first episode.