Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sounding the alarm that Russia’s attack on Ukraine could increase the threat of China invading Taiwan, with some calling for the United States to ramp up its efforts to deter an incursion.
These concerns spiked after China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that “Taiwan is not Ukraine,” arguing it has “always been an inalienable part of China” and refusing to call Russia’s actions an invasion.
Top members of Congress cautioned that while China has denied backing the Russian incursion into Ukraine, they believe the communist country is “playing both sides” with its rhetoric, arguing that an alliance between the U.S. adversaries should not be ignored.
“The risk of the Chinese and the Russians collaborating more closely against liberal democracy is something that we should all be concerned about,” Rep. Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat who is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “Of course, China is going to be watching how the world responds to an incursion in Ukraine, because of course, they have the same eyes on Taiwan, there’s no question.”
House Foreign Affairs ranking member Micheal McCaul said he believes it is “only a matter of time” before China invades Taiwan, noting that at least nine Chinese military jets have already been seen crossing into the self-governed island’s airspace.
“I think we all saw this unholy alliance coming together at the Beijing Olympics, where Putin and [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] were hand-in-hand condemning NATO’s ‘aggression’ and calling for the West to stay out of the South China Sea and Taiwan,” the Texas Republican said in an interview.
“So these two events are interconnected and intertwined, and I think Putin has always wanted to do this, it was all about the right time. And I think Xi has always wanted to take Taiwan — it’s about basically going back to the glory of their empires.”
California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa also said he sees a Taiwan incursion as almost inevitable, asserting he believes action needs to be taken in advance.
“You know, they were already looking at licking their chops. After Afghanistan, they now will look at their sovereign entity — I mean, whether we like it or not, Taiwan ever since Nixon has not been recognized as a country but rather as a part of China that is entitled to special treatment, but that special treatment ends when the troops go in, and that’s what’s going to happen,” he told the Washington Examiner.