Rush Doshi, former US National Security Council deputy senior director for China and Taiwan, on Wednesday expressed concern that suspending military aid to Ukraine could send the wrong signal to Beijing regarding Washington’s commitment to Taiwan.
Doshi, who served in the administration of former US president Joe Biden, made the comments during a US House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee hearing titled “Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to US National Security.”
“China is watching everything that we’re doing on Ukraine very closely,” said Doshi, an assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, when asked how the US could maintain its relationships with other countries and counter China after it “retreated its partnership” with Ukraine.
Photo: AFP
“They [China] would be very happy if, in a fit of political dysfunction or capriciousness, we decided to cut aid to Ukraine, because they think that means we won’t aid Taiwan should that question be called,” he said.
Doshi said US actions would impact how China considers Taiwan.
“What concerns me about the state of play in Ukraine on this very important topic is that if you are Taiwan right now, you should be very worried about us possibly leaving our friends in the field in Ukraine,” US Representative Eric Swalwell said.
If China were to invade Taiwan, it would be in the interest of the US, as well as in the interest of a few other countries in the region, to defend Taiwan, he said.
However, Swalwell added that he does not see why “Europe would want to get involved unless it was a strong American partnership and strength and allyship that persuaded them to do that.”
The US cannot be tough on China, but soft on Russia because “they [China] will actually think that we wouldn’t really honor our commitment to Taiwan, and that the rest of the world wouldn’t go with us because we would have a credibility deficit on that issue,” Swalwell said.
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