Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) members on Friday launched a campaign urging governments to assess the domestic economic effect of a shock in the Taiwan Strait.
The campaign, named “Operation Mist,” is aimed at compelling governments to admit that “cross-strait stability is in the domestic interests of nearly every country in the world,” IPAC said.
A war over Taiwan would result in a US$10 trillion shock to the world economy — about 10 percent of global gross domestic product, a report published by Bloomberg Economics showed.
Photo: Reuters
“No country will be immune from this economic fallout, which is likely to be at least five times worse than the economic damage caused by Ukraine,” the cross-national parliamentarian group said.
Ordinary people would have to bear the consequences if governments fail to de-escalate and deter a cross-strait conflict, it said, adding that “it behooves elected representatives worldwide to ensure this does not happen.”
“Operation Mist” was initiated by several cochairs and members of IPAC, including German member of the European Parliament Reinhard Butikofer, Dutch lawmaker Jan Paternotte, Australian Senator David Fawcett and French Senator Olivier Cadic.
Stewart Malcolm McDonald, a British lawmaker who is also an IPAC member, asked during a British parliamentary debate in January whether the UK government had conducted economic modeling on the potential impact of an economic blockade by China on Taiwan or a full-scale invasion.
British Minister of State for Indo-Pacific Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan responded, saying that the government is focusing on how it can “build resilience in UK interests and support partners.”
Speaking to reporters, McDonald on Friday said he believed the British government had simulated various Taiwan Strait scenarios, but is unwilling to release the information.
Like some other British lawmakers, Macdonald said the British government should make its findings and conclusions public.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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