Rome, February 26, 2022 – Ukrainian war“We are careful because tomorrow could be the turn of Taiwan“. While the world watches petrified at what is happening to Kievends up under close observation there China. The statement of Giorgia Meloni, leader of FdI, at the “CPAC 2022”, underway in Orlando, Florida, is reflected in the words – even clearer – used by the former US president Donald Trump. “China is next,” he declared, convinced that the invasion is the Beijing project.
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Taiwan accuses China: “Beijing’s nine military fighter raids”
Equilibrium
It weighs the caution and the balancing act of the presidente Xi on the war in Ukraine. “The sanctions they are never the solution to solve problems, ”the spokeswoman for the Beijing Foreign Ministry said in recent days. With a distinction that is not exactly reassuring: “Taiwan is not Ukraine and has always been an inalienable part of the Chinese territory”.
For its part, Taiwan, which is home to the world‘s largest semiconductor manufacturer, has announced instead that will join international sanctions against Russia. The foreign ministry has in fact declared that it will impose sanctions to “force Russia to stop the military aggression against Ukraine and to resume peaceful dialogue”.
Scenarios and alliances
But there are several distinctions among international observers. The sinologo Francesco Sisci he is convinced that Taiwan will not be the second front. “China is following with great attention what is happening in Ukraine”, for “many reasons” and there are “various aspects” to take into consideration, “the easiest, the question of Taiwan”. But if “everyone says that the Chinese” will exploit the current situation – what Vladimir Putin called a “special military operation” in Ukraine – “to attack Taiwan, I don’t believe it.” Beijing has always considered Taiwan a “rebel province” to be “reunified”. But the “question is very different,” says Sisci. And they have been repeating this for days also from Taipei, where in the meantime people have gone down in the street to protestcalling for a free Ukraine.
Chinese fighter and US ship
Two days ago Taiwan reported the raid by 9 Chinese fighters in its aerial identification zone. While in the last hours one american warship passing through the Taiwan Strait unleashed the wrath of China, which immediately sent its forces to follow and monitor its transit, as announced by the Chinese Army’s Eastern Command. For the US Seventh Fleet “a routine transit through international waters”. For the colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the command of the Chinese oriental theater “It is hypocritical and useless for the United States to carry out this provocative action in an attempt to strengthen Taiwan’s independence forces by making some gestures”. In short, no relaxation in sight.