Taiwan’s foreign minister said that the international community should unite in resisting Chinese expansion and preventing the invasion of Taiwan by sharing intelligence information, rethinking Chinese trade relations and strengthening Taipei on the world stage.
In an interview with The Guardian, Joseph Wu said that China’s activities in the South China Sea and the East China Seas, its border skirmishes with India, and its crackdown on Hong Kong were evidence that it sought to “expand its authoritarian regime,” and that Taiwan was. His next goal.
Wu warned partners including the United States and Europe, Japan and Australia say that if Taiwan falls prey to China, it will greatly expand Beijing’s reach to the Pacific region and greatly affect the global system.
As the foreign minister, Wu has been at the forefront of Taiwan’s pressure campaign for “like-minded” international alliances. In the ornate meeting room of the Foreign Ministry in Taipei, he spoke optimistically about what he hoped other countries would offer, but was careful not to cross requests for direct military assistance, which could inflame unstable stability in the Taiwan Strait. However, he did not hesitate to criticize Beijing, saying that its imposition of “authoritarian, even totalitarian rule” threatens to turn even its own people against it.
Although the Chinese Communist Party never ruled Taiwan, Beijing considers it a separatist province that should be brought back to the motherland by force if necessary. It has greatly enhanced its military capabilities, increased air incursions and exercises, and sharpened its rhetoric against Taipei and the United States for its support for Taiwan. In October, Chinese President Xi Jinping asked troops to prepare for war.
China’s control of Taiwan will greatly enhance Beijing’s territorial control and access to the Pacific region.
Referring to McCarthy-era concerns, Wu said, “If one of the most important stops in the first chain of islands is not in the hands of like-minded nations, we can imagine what this will do to the global strategic picture.” The arrival of the Chinese Navy to the west coast of the United States. “We definitely need to think about how to prevent this from happening.”
Wu said that European countries have renewed interest in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and Australia is facing a “very complex Pacific” region. They and other allies such as Japan were not obligated to support Taiwan, but if Taiwan fell into China’s hands, “that might matter.” [global] Effect”.
“Like-minded countries need to unite, and we will be stronger together,” he said.
He said Taiwan would “appreciate” the exchange of intelligence and other non-military support from other allies, including Australia and Japan. Taiwan has been operating domestically against disinformation and infiltration campaigns, but it has also sought international partners in mixed warfare and security cooperation.
Wu said Taiwan wants to show the international community and China that it is “absolutely determined to defend ourselves,” and that it bears responsibility, will and ability.
The mounting raids
China is way ahead of Taiwan. It has made significant commitments to boost its defense capabilities and improve infantry, but it is dependent on billions of dollars in arms sales from the United States.
Under a decades-old agreement, the United States is obligated to supply Taiwan with needed defense materials, but it also maintains a policy of deterrence of refusing to say whether it will arrive in defense of Taiwan in the event of an attack. As the Trump administration increased sales, orders were speeded up, something Wu said he believed would continue.
“Given that China might want to launch an attack on the couple … or several years down the road in a more massive way, we need to buy more items from the United States,” he said.
Analysts pointed to China’s military buildup and growing hostility under Xi Jinping, as well as the growing hostilities with the United States – a major player in cross-strait relations – to say the confrontation is likely to increase.
“We cannot assume that China will attack Taiwan or not attack Taiwan in any period of time,” Wu said. “But if we look at the Chinese preparations in the past two years, they definitely intensified their military deployment against Taiwan, and they also intensified their training on Taiwan,” he said.
In recent months, China has stepped up its incursions into the Taiwan Air Defense Limitation Zone (ADIZ), to nearly daily flights of military and spy planes, according to Taiwanese defense observers. Each time Taiwan rushes its own aircraft in response, causing damage to the fleet as well as providing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army with information about its tactics. Wu said the People’s Liberation Army had also repeatedly crossed the center line, which until this year had represented the status quo on maintaining peace and stability in the strait.
Taiwan’s multifaceted defense strategies prepare for a variety of Chinese moves including cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, disinformation campaigns, infiltration, large-scale military attacks, annexation of remote Crimean-style islands, the “gray zone” of war, or a combination of them all. .
What Taiwan really needs is more support to rejoin international bodies, Wu said. Few countries officially recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, and despite China’s increasing isolation on the world stage, it still has enough power and influence to keep Taiwan out of international organizations like the World Health Organization. Despite growing calls for Taiwan’s inclusion, Taiwan did not receive sufficient support for admission into the WHO Assembly.
“We want the international community to understand that excluding 23.5 million people here in Taiwan is definitely unfair to the Taiwanese people, and also that excluding Taiwanese from participating in the World Health Organization is unfair to the rest of the international community,” he said, saying, Taiwan has a lot to share about its response. Successful for the epidemic.
Wu also indicated other ways of action other governments could take to resist Beijing’s advance and support Taiwan, including rethinking trade.
“Everyone who is affected by the Chinese expansion will turn around.” [ask] Is it good for me to deal with this country? I’m sure you see Japan, the US, India and Australia now [as well as] Many other countries, including the European Union, are now saying hello, perhaps it is time to rethink the strategy for dealing with China.
However, he acknowledged that this often comes at a cost, citing China’s willingness to restrict or punish imports as a dispute tactic, which has recently emerged in its bans on Australian coal and tariffs on its wine. But he said this happened when international alliances were badly needed. “Fighting alone is not the way to deal with it.”
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