China is likely to ramp up its diplomatic “attacks” on Taiwan following the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) National Congress last week, including trying to snatch more of the nation’s few remaining diplomatic allies, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.
The CCP wrapped up its congress on Saturday, cementing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) grip on power.
In a report to the legislature, Wu said he expected Beijing to ramp up its “security threat and diplomatic suppression” of Taiwan.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“China is likely to increase its attacks and threats to Taiwan, especially in the diplomatic field,” Wu told lawmakers. “This is what we are worried about.”
Taiwan has received “signs” and intelligence from unspecified diplomatic allies that China is boosting efforts to lure the nation’s allies into switching official recognition to Beijing, he said.
“The diplomatic challenges we are facing are getting bigger,” he said. “Looking forward, our situation is becoming more difficult.”
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
Under Wu’s time in office, six countries have switched official recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
Separately, National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said there are no signs that China is planning an attack on Taiwan next year, and urged Western nations to send a clear message that they would intervene if China launches a military operation against Taiwan.
Analysts’ estimates for when China would develop the ability to invade Taiwan have shortened from 2027 to 2025 and now as soon as next year.
National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) last week said that if an attack occurs next year, its aim would be to force Taiwan to the negotiating table.
Speaking to political commentator Wang Shi-chi (王時齊) on her Yahoo TV show, Koo yesterday said there are no indications that military action is imminent, although it is prudent to analyze all scenarios.
China is facing mounting domestic problems, from economic decline and rising unemployment, to its “zero COVID-19” policy and US technology embargo, he said.
Beijing would continue to threaten Taiwan, but there are no warning signs of an invasion, even though it has been making preparations, he added.
Taiwan must approach the uncertainty of the next five to 10 years carefully, using a sense of worry to improve defense capabilities among the military and public “to let China know we will not give in,” Koo said.
China might have numbers on its side, but with the right weapons, Taiwan could weaken China’s willingness to invade by withstanding the first strike to launch a bruising counterattack, he said.
Meanwhile, the US and other Western countries should send a clear message to China that as soon as it makes military overtures toward Taiwan, they “would not preclude the possibility of involvement,” he said.
Asked if this is a tacit agreement between Taiwan and Western countries, Koo said that from the council’s perspective, the possibility of “intervention” cannot be ruled out.
China must first stabilize its domestic issues, Koo said, adding that he does not foresee Beijing rushing to deal with Taiwan “for at least the next two to three years.”
From a geopolitical perspective, Taiwan is on the forefront of the first island chain, meaning that an invasion would be felt much further afield, he said.
With Japan, South Korea and the Philippines all to be affected, “where would the US retreat to? Not just Guam, maybe even Hawaii,” he added.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat