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.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS