The situation in the Taiwan Strait is unprecedentedly dangerous Beware of Xi’s “encroachment strategy”

Gates said Feb. 26 at a Washington Post webinar that the situation in Taiwan is “very dangerous” and the most worrisome piece of the puzzle, and that “Xi Jinping is committed to reclaiming Hong Kong and Taiwan to mainland China during his tenure, allowing him to reach the same status as Mao Zedong. “

Gates deduced that Xi Jinping might use a “Nibbling Strategy” against Taiwan, taking the islands close to China’s periphery little by little, while constantly sending fighter jets, bombers, warships, etc. across the center line in a continuous threatening move.

As Gates was making these judgments, the “unification in two years” theory was causing a whirlwind of international opinion.

On February 9, 2020, a Chinese military aircraft crossed the center line in the Taiwan Strait, and a National Army F-16 (left) took off to monitor the flight. (Courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China)

The source of the incident, U.S. congressional media Roll Call, reported that at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission held on February 18, Stanford scholar Mei Hui-lin pointed out that today the U.S. military deterrence on cross-strait issues is arguably the weakest since the Korean War, and she added that a Chinese Communist Party military source told her that “the Chinese Communist Party military is capable of completing the goal of armed unification of Taiwan within one to two years She added that a Communist Party military source told her that “the Communist Party military is capable of accomplishing the goal of unifying Taiwan by force within one to two years.

After this, Beijing-based Chinese media outlet Dovetail.com published an article on the subject, analyzing the three aspects of whether the U.S. would intervene, how prepared Taiwan is, and whether the Communist military has the capability to do so. From the perspective of the interaction between Beijing and Washington, there is not much obstruction from Washington to the unification of Taiwan; Taipei’s substantive military preparations are not in order; but Beijing has been systematically and continuously verifying the tactics of actual warfare, thus it seems that the unification of Taiwan within two years “seems to be slowly moving towards the route of becoming real.

This is suspected to be a further release by Beijing through its foreign propaganda system. The situation in the Taiwan Strait is tense enough to cause alarm in the international community.

In addition, as Gates said, Beijing is now gradually eating into Taiwan’s living space, the suspension of imports of pineapples from Taiwan is one of the steps.

But Biden has repeatedly released signals of weakness to the Chinese Communist Party since taking office, and even told CNN on Feb. 17 that the U.S. would not publicly criticize the Communist Party’s policies on Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and used “cultural standards” to define the Communist Party’s persecution of residents in those areas.

So much so that Writer Chen Mingyao said in an article in the People’s Daily that previous suspicions about Biden had been confirmed, “These suspicions range from the Biden Family having leverage over the Chinese Communist Party, to many other politicians colluding with the Chinese Communist Party and even giving in to China’s appeasement policy, which may have only been speculation in the past, but now that Biden has spoken out publicly, we can stop doubting. “.

Chen Mingyao predicted that Biden’s softening attitude toward the CCP, “and that the U.S. will not fight for human rights and universal values, is quite an obvious message. No wonder the Chinese Communist Party is rejoicing and raving about Biden.”

This exacerbates the critical level of the situation in the Taiwan Strait.

Gates suggested that the U.S. abandon its strategically ambiguous approach to Taiwan, “We should clearly tell the authorities in Beijing that if they act against Taiwan without cause, then the U.S. will support Taiwan; and warn the authorities in Taipei that if they act unilaterally to change the status quo in a way that seeks independence, then they are on their own”.

Radio Free Asia pointed out that Gates, 77, has a rich political experience, having served eight U.S. presidents across party lines, and his diplomatic thinking has long been a key reference benchmark for Washington.