Taiwan and China are gauging America’s response in the Ukraine crisis

NBC NEWS NOW

Matthew 24:6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Taiwan watching Ukraine crisis with ‘concern and anxiety,’ says top diplomat in U.S.
  • Taipei’s representative in Washington, Bi-khim Hsiao, said “Like everyone else in the world, we are watching the situation with much concern and anxiety,” she said. “We certainly hope that the situation can be resolved peacefully through diplomatic means.
  • Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, said last month that her nation “empathized” with the plight of Ukrainians because of the military threat Taiwan faces from its powerful larger neighbor. She ordered the creation of a task force to study how tensions between Russia and Ukraine could affect Taiwan’s own long-running conflict with Beijing.
  • Former U.S. officials say China will gauge the U.S. response to Russia as a possible guide to how Washington might counter a crisis over Taiwan.
  • Hsiao said China has tried to wear down Taipei through pressure tactics, bullying and disinformation that stops short of outright military action, in what her government calls “gray zone warfare.”
  • “The Chinese have also been launching cyberattacks, disinformation, cognitive and psychological warfare on the people of Taiwan, aimed at weakening our resolve to our self-defense and also trying to sow divisions within our society,” Hsiao said.
  • Governments that have refused to sever ties with Taiwan or that have criticized Beijing have faced economic retaliation from China, including those of Lithuania and Australia, she said. Democratic countries need to rally, she said, and show China that Beijing’s “coercion” will not succeed.

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