Australian media yesterday cited Australian Minister for Defence Peter Dutton as saying that China would likely ramp up its pressure on Taiwan if Russia were to invade Ukraine.
A worsening of the crisis in Ukraine would likely have implications for security in the Indo-Pacific region, the Australian newspaper cited Dutton as saying.
One way that would manifest would be in China making greater encroachments on Taiwan, he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Dutton said an invasion of Ukraine would cause instabilities worldwide. Citing an example, he said that for a decade during the Cold War there was instability in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world had also been affected.
Dutton urged the Australian government to pay close attention to the situation in both Ukraine and in the Taiwan Strait.
Separately, the chairman of the Defence and National Security Policy Branch of the Liberal Party in New South Wales, Lincoln Parker, on Sunday said in an interview with Australia’s Sky News that a successful Russian invasion of Ukraine would “leave the door open” for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
“Indeed, [US] President [Joe] Biden is not committing as many troops as some would like,” he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday published a report by US Studies Center senior fellow Bruce Wolpe, who said that if Russia invades Ukraine, China would likely seek to copy Moscow’s success.
“If Putin succeeds, and endures the sanctions and can tolerate the Ukrainian people’s uprising, and enjoys a resurgence of pride and glory across Mother Russia, [Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平)] may want to copy that playbook for Taiwan. And sooner rather than later,” Wolpe wrote.
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