 |
A Chinese move on Taiwan would hit ‘quite literally every country on earth,’
Antony Blinken warns in Euronews interview
By Euronews Brussels bureau
Any attempt by China to forcefully change the status quo with Taiwan would hit “quite literally every country on earth.”
This is the stark warning issued by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an interview with Euronews, recorded after this week’s meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers in Brussels.
China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has vowed to reunite the democratic, high-tech island with the mainland, a goal that many in the West interpret as a coded language for a possible full-scale military intervention sometime in the future.
These fears have drastically increased ever since Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine, which has plunged US-China relations to its lowest point in decades.
“I heard this in conversations with many of our NATO allies as well as partners in Asia: there is concern that, were there to be a crisis as a result of China’s actions over Taiwan, that would have repercussions for quite literally every country on earth,” Blinken told our colleague Efi Koutsokosta.
“50% of global commercial traffic goes through the Taiwan Strait every day. 70% of the semiconductors that we need for our smartphones, for our dishwashers, for our cars, they're made in Taiwan,” he went on.
“If there was some kind of crisis as a result of something that China did, that would have terribly disruptive effects on the global economy, which is why countries around the world look to everyone to behave and act responsibly.”
Blinken’s comments coincided with a high-level meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California, a closely watched encounter that triggered Beijing’s fury.
Despite the growing tensions between the two superpowers, the Secretary of State insisted Washington would not alter the long-standing One China policy that recognises the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China.
“Yes, we're in competition. Nothing’s wrong with competition as long as it's fair,” he said. “But we want to make sure that that competition does not veer into conflict.”
During the interview, Blinken spoke about China’s role in the Ukraine war, which Western countries have criticised as overly ambivalent, and expressed his hope Beijing would refrain from supplying lethal aid to Moscow, a dreaded scenario that diplomats and analysts said would be a game-changer.
“I think China’s also trying to have it both ways,” Blinken told Efi.
“It wants to be seen as trying to advance peace and at the same time, it continues to support Russia in different ways, rhetorically, making its case in international institutions, advancing Russian propaganda about the aggression.”
Blinken painted Russia as “increasingly dependent” on China and the “junior partner” in the pair, an unbalanced relation that gives Beijing “some leverage” over Moscow.
The Secretary then urged China, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to use this influence to uphold international law and convince the Kremlin to give back the occupied territories in Ukraine, a condition that in his view is non-negotiable to strike a peace deal.
“A just peace is one that respects the basic principles of the United Nations charter, including territorial integrity. It can’t be a peace that endorses Russia's seizure by force of so much of Ukraine's territory,” Blinken said.
“And it needs to be durable in the sense that we can’t just have something that allows Russia to rest, to refit its troops and then to re-attack when it's more convenient.”
ALL ABOUT CHINA Our correspondent Ana Lázaro Bosch is in Beijing following the meeting of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In response to Ana’s question during the final press conference, von der Leyen said that stability in the Taiwan Strait was of “paramount importance” and that arming Russia would be a “clear violation of international law” that would “significantly” harm EU-China relations.
|
|
 |
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
THE FRONTLINE President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled this week to Poland, one of Ukraine’s most ardent supporters, and secured the provision of more Mig-29 fighter jets. His visit, however, was somewhat eclipsed by a growing controversy around imports of duty-free Ukrainian grain, which Polish farmers say are distorting the market. Also this week, Finland became the 31st member of NATO, bringing to the alliance a 1,340-kilometre-long border with Russia. “The era of military non-alignment in our history has come to an end,” Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said. As expected, the accession went down badly in the Kremlin, prompting threats of “military-technical and other retaliatory measures.” And we have the latest on Ukraine’s much-expected counteroffensive.
NORDIC SHIFT More news about Finland: the centre-right National Coalition Party came first in the country’s general elections, winning 48 seats in the 200-strong parliament, closely followed by the far-right populist Finns Party, which netted 46 seats. Sanna Marin and her Social Democrats were unable to capitalise on the incumbent’s popularity and were relegated to third position, with 43 lawmakers in the 200-strong parliament. The results offer different options for possible coalitions. David Mac Dougall brings you the post-election analysis to understand what happened.
ROAD TO 2024 Sanna Marin’s defeat adds a new chapter in a string of electoral disappointments suffered in recent months by socialist parties, including in countries like France, Italy and Sweden. With Marin all but guaranteed to be denied a second run as prime minister, the power balance inside the European Council is set to tilt further to the right, writes Jorge Liboreiro. For the socialists, this means the stakes are even higher for the next big race: Spain.
THE 6th REPUBLIC The fallout from the Algiers crisis in 1958 prompted the collapse of the French Fourth Republic and the emergence of the Fifth, based on a semi-presidential system. More than 60 years later, the violent protests against Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform are testing the country’s entire political structure. Could the crisis usher in a sixth republic? Lauren Chadwick investigates.
QATARGATE Pier Antonio Panzeri, the presumed ringleader behind the corruption scandal that has rocked the European Parliament, was granted on Thursday his release from prison.
|
|
ITALIAN BAN Italy has become the first Western country to block ChatGPT, a popular chatbot powered by artificial intelligence. The ban, which took immediate effect and made international headlines, was argued on the basis of privacy concerns. As chatbots grow more powerful and concerns increase over their unintended side effects, Euronews Next wonders if any other European government could decide to follow Italy’s ground-breaking example.
2016 FLASHBACK Turkey is counting down the days to the May elections, with the economy the single most important issue for voters. But migration is also high on the agenda, with surveys showing a rise in sentiment against refugees. President Erdogan and the opposition are openly talking about return schemes to send Syrians back to their homeland. The elections raise doubts about the future of the EU-Turkey migration deal signed back in 2016, writes Tuba Altunkaya.
DANISH GENES More and more women across Europe are turning to Danish sperm banks in order to get pregnant. Find out why Denmark is the preferred option.
LIFE AS A POLYGLOT Over two-thirds of Europeans speak two or more languages, a particular condition that has an influence on how we think and perceive concepts. Our team breaks down the five ways in which multilingual brains work differently.
SUNNY DREAMS Ponga, a little town in Northern Spain, says it will pay €2,971 to each person who chooses to relocate there. But there’s a catch.
|
|
 |
IT'S IN THE NUMBERS
Donald Trump pleaded this week “not guilty” to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, marking the first time a former US president has been criminally charged. The charges relate to a $130,000 hush-money payment that Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, sent to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who allegedly had an affair with Trump back in 2007. The hearing of the twice-impeached president at the Manhattan Criminal Court lasted over 57 minutes.
GO DEEPER Before Trump, which other leaders were arrested or charged?
|
|
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Lukashenko’s bond with Vladimir Putin backfires against those who fled his iron grip
|
|
The mass protests that swept Belarus between 2020 and 2021 were seen as a watershed moment in the country’s troubled post-Soviet history and sparked an outpouring of support across Europe. The EU institutions promptly slapped sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and welcomed the opposition movement with open arms. In the meantime, thousands of Belarusians fled the brutal repression unleashed by government forces and resettled in countries like Sweden, the Czech Republic and Lithuania. Although their reception was initially warm, things have taken a surprise turn. Ever since Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian exiles say they face growing discrimination and hostility, effectively paying the price for Lukashenko’s unyielding support for Vladimir Putin. “Belarus is participating in this war on Russia’s side, but it's not us,” Alexey Yevtushik, a Belarusian activist, tells Joshua Askew. “It's our stupid dictator.”
|
|
NO COMMENT
New aerial pictures have revealed the extent of the damage caused by the tornadoes that last week hit 11 US states and killed at least 32 people.
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment