China would become a crucial “reverse factor” to global stability after the US presidential election, posing political and economic challenges around the world, a National Security Bureau official said yesterday.
Amid major elections in many democracies this year — including in France, Italy and the UK, as well as today’s US presidential election and Japan’s extraordinary session of the National Diet to choose a prime minister on Monday next week — China has attempted to leverage the geopolitical and global economic situation to make a strategic breakthrough, said the official, who wished to remain anonymous.
Conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine are not only expected to aggravate global inflation and supply chain insecurity, but could influence voters, potentially opening up opportunities for China, which with its economic influence could become a crucial “reverse factor” to global stability in the coming year, they said.
Photo: Tingshu Wang, Reuters
China’s authoritarian coalition with Russia, Iran and North Korea is growing and threatening the Indo-Pacific region, while prolonging or exacerbating conflicts that could trap Western democracies in wars in continental Europe and the Middle East, and enable Russia to continue its aggressive expansion, they said.
China’s continued military coercion in the Indo-Pacific region has virtually opened another battlefield, with the aim of diverting the attention of the US and other democracies to reduce international pressure on Russia, they said.
Economically, China’s domestic demand has remained sluggish after the COVID-19 pandemic, but Beijing’s nonmarket economy approach is functioning as a placebo that exacerbates the problem, the official said.
Combined with a manufacturing surplus, the country’s stagnant domestic economy has caused a glut of Chinese goods, they said.
If China seeks to resolve its production surplus by flooding international markets with steel, electric vehicles and petrochemicals, domestic demand in many countries would be severely affected, they said.
For example, exports of China-made products could rise considerably through e-commerce sites during its Double 11 shopping event on Monday next week, aided by reduced or waived shipping fees that would result in unfair market competition, the official said.
China could dominate global markets with “overproduction,” as that has become an alternative weapon for Beijing to threaten global economic stability, they said.
Many countries have imposed higher tariffs against Chinese products to protect domestic industries, they said.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS