[Epoch Times, January 14, 2022]Former Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen wrote to American and Danish media in response to the CCP’s economic sanctions against Lithuania. The article warned against the threat of authoritarian regimes such as the CCP and Russia, and called on the European Union and the United States Taiwan and Lithuania should be supported.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen published a book in Newsweek on the 11th, titled “The United States, Europe Should Resist China’s Economic Intimidation”, the article mentioned that Taiwan has maintained the status quo in the past few decades, The state of non-unification and independence is in line with the attitude of most countries. Taiwan can develop democracy and economy, and other countries can also develop relations with both sides as long as they do not violate the so-called one-China policy.
But from the actions and remarks of Chinese President Xi Jinping, it can be seen that this situation has changed, and the CCP no longer has the will to “maintain the status quo”, so the free world should also reconsider how to deal with it.
He said that the CCP led by Xi Jinping has launched various attacks on Taiwan, including information warfare and military harassment of the airspace southwest of Taiwan. The CCP has continuously threatened democratic Taiwan, but many free countries have chosen to turn a blind eye.
The article also emphasizes that the vague definition of the US policy toward Taiwan may have worked in the past, but Xi Jinping’s CCP is not the CCP of the past, and since Biden came to power, the Taiwan Strait policy has become more and more clear. In order to maintain the balance of the Indo-Pacific region, the United States attaches great importance to the Taiwan issue. Europe should not stand by and let the United States shoulder the task of stability in the Indo-Pacific region. On the other hand, it criticizes the United States for its tough policy toward the CCP and maintains commercial relations with the CCP.
Rasmussen cited the example of Lithuania as a reference for European countries in the book. Lithuania’s withdrawal from the 17+1 interaction mechanism between the CCP and Central and Eastern European countries does not violate the one-China policy, but it still faces economic threats from Beijing and restricts exports.
Rasmussen said that the CCP’s oppression of Lithuania, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union, is a test for the free world. If the free world chooses to ignore it, then Beijing will use the powerful weapon of economic oppression to force it. Other democracies obey Beijing’s will.
In his submission, he suggested that the EU should lend to Lithuania to mitigate the economic losses suffered by Lithuania; the EU is discussing “countermeasures” so that the EU can fight back in similar circumstances. The long-term goal of the free world should be to establish an “Economic Clause 5” similar to NATO’s mutual defense mechanism to jointly bear and counter the economic threat of the CCP.
Article V of the NATO founding treaty requires signatories to undertake that an armed attack against any one member state shall be considered an armed attack against all member states.
In his submission to the “Jyllands-Posten”, Rasmussen reiterated the importance of the EU’s support for Lithuania, and introduced how Taiwan can use bilateral trade to substantially support Lithuania’s practice for reference by European countries.
He said that autocratic countries are watching events in Lithuania, whether economic means can be the most effective way to threaten democratic countries. This incident also shows that in the face of the threat of authoritarian states, political will cannot be replaced by bureaucracy.
Rasmussen was Prime Minister of Denmark from 2001 to 2009 and Secretary General of NATO from 2009 to 2014.
Editor in charge: Zhong Yuan#
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