First of all, Pelosi's visit served little political purpose other than to antagonise the PRC. Most people in Taiwan, even many hardcore TIers, were not in favor. Pelosi may have even turned some people away from aggressive pro-independence stances. Outside Taiwan, Australia and Japan cannot possibly be thrilled with unilateral provocation by the US, especially since it gave the PRC an excuse to cross political and military boundaries that it previously did not cross. We will almost certainly see PLAN/PLAAF regularly operating much closer to Taiwan Island than ever before. In fact, the Pelosi visit may have been a net gain for the PRC.
Any violence or aggression directed against Pelosi's plane, although advocated by many hypernationalists in China (and ironically by many Americans who hate Pelosi) would only unify a deeply fractured US and serve as a causus belli for Americans to start a war. The response that the PRC gave was most likely the most balanced and appropriate one possible.
Those of you who would criticise the more aggressive diplomacy that the US has accused the PRC of recently do not understand that the US would oppose anything the PRC does nowadays, simply because Chinese economic and military power has grown too great for teh US and West to be comfortable with. Soft power is only an adjunct to hard power. Indians excel at soft power compared with Chinese, yet their country is a dump. Russians excelled at soft power vis a vis the US, then they started getting banned from Western social media platforms. I understand that Europe completely blocked access to RT. Had Chinese gone down the same path, Chinese would be banned a lot sooner and would achieve fewer results because Chinese can't evangelise whites in the same manner that Indians or Russians can.
On the other hand, I am dismayed that anyone would besmirch certain previous leaders for being too soft on the West, or even borderline accuse them of treason. The power gap between the US and PRC was much greater only a few years ago, has anyone forgotten that? Laying low was the only reasonable thing to do at the time, sometimes you have to swallow your pride to survive. Americans were calling for Chinese blood during the EP-3 incident, and there was little the PLA could have done at the time, any more so than during the embassy bombing. And I do not for a moment believe certain accusations regarding the PLAN carrier programme. If they were true the Melbourne would have simply been scrapped immediately without such a detailed analysis.
The Sino-US relationship is entering an even more rough time than it had been before, and it is in the best interest of the PRC to be wary of any plots to draw her into an avoidable conflict, particularly at a period when social and political divisions with in the US threaten to turn violent in ways that may force the US to focus on internal issues and prevent actions against the PRC.
