On Tuesday, Chinese Communist President Xi Jinping declared his country will focus on preparing for war.
“China is preparing for war, its President Xi Jinping is reported as saying,” Express reported. “The communist leader cited security concerns, saying that it was ‘increasingly unstable and uncertain.’”
“For years, Xi has been ratcheting up his rhetoric around the use of miliary force to reunify Taiwan with mainland China, and in response the West has done very little,” Dr Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society told The Daily Mail. “Liberal Democracies must now take him at his word, and work collectively, using all means necessary to deter Xi from invading Taiwan.’
“As a priority, Western nations must begin the process of removing all Chinese influence from critical industries such as energy, water and nuclear power,” Mendoza continued. “Next, we must immediately start the process of decoupling China from many of our most relied upon supply chain networks and develop new ones with likeminded partner nations.”
In October, the Chinese Communist Party interpolated an extra line into its constitution that stated it was ‘resolutely opposing and deterring’ Taiwan’s independence.
In mid-October, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday warned of a Chinese takeover of Taiwan, saying, “It’s not just what President Xi says, it’s how the Chinese behave and what they do. And what we’ve seen over the past 20 years is that they have delivered on every promise they’ve made earlier than they said they were going to deliver on it. So when we talk about the 2027 window, in my mind, that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window. I can’t rule that out. I don’t mean at all to be alarmist by saying that. It’s just that we can’t wish that away.”
The 2027 window referred to the timetable by which China would invade Taiwan, propounded by Adm. Phil Davidson, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, in 2021.
At roughly the same time as Gilday’s remarks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed, “There has been a change in the approach from Beijing toward Taiwan in recent years. Instead of sticking with the status quo that was established in a positive way, a fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable and that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.”