Nancy Pelosi’s plan to visit Taiwan sends stocks tumbling
By Laura He, CNN Business
Global markets fell on Tuesday as investors feared US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s expected visit to Taiwan could severely escalate tensions with China.
US and European equities followed Asian indexes down as investors weighed the market implications of the trip.
Stock exchanges: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.4%, and mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index ended down 2.3%.
Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively, while the FTSE 100 in London was flat.
All three major US stock indexes opened in the red.
The Taiwan dollar weakened 0.1% against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen, a traditional safe-haven currency, surged 0.6% against the greenback.
Worries about escalating tensions in the Taiwan Strait are roiling markets.
Pelosi is expected to visit Taiwan as part of her tour of Asia, according to a senior Taiwanese government official and a US official, despite warnings from Biden administration officials, who are worried about China’s response to such a high-profile visit.
The stop — the first for a US House speaker in 25 years — is not on Pelosi’s public itinerary and comes at a time when US-China relations are already at a low point.
During a regular foreign ministry briefing Monday, China warned against the “egregious political impact” of Pelosi’s planned visit to the self-governing island that China claims as a part of its territory. Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said that the country’s military “won’t sit by idly” if Beijing feels its “sovereignty and territorial integrity” is being threatened.
“Pelosi’s Taiwan visit is tainting sentiment today. And amid escalating tensions in Taiwan Strait and deepening worries about a global economic slowdown, investors are diving headlong into US bonds,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, on Tuesday.
“No party wants a real war, but the risk of mishap or even aggressive war game escalation is real, which could always lead to a tactical mistake,” he said.
ING analysts, meanwhile, expected that China could send warplanes near Taiwan or even over it “before, during and after” Pelosi’s possible visit.
“It seems that the US has underestimated or misread President Xi’s stance on Taiwan. The determination of Xi on uniting Taiwan with Mainland China is extremely firm, ” the analysts said in a research note on Tuesday.
“We should see weakness in the Chinese yuan and Taiwan dollar over the coming days,” they added.
CNN’s Eric Cheung, Kylie Atwood, Alex Rogers and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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