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.
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
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary