Taiwan envoy to France warns against China profiting from Hamas-Israel war | Taiwan News | 2023-10-10 17:22:00 angielski

Okazuje się, że napaść Hamasu na Izrael może mieć konsekwencje dla Tajwanu. Tajwańczycy obawiają się, że USA nie będą ich w stanie bronić w razie zagrożenia chińskiego

China might assume the US was stretched thin

Taiwan envoy in Paris Francois Wu speaking on Le Figaro TV Monday. (Screenshot, Le Figaro TV)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s representative in France on Monday (Oct. 9) warned against China’s launching a “third front” to profit from the world’s attention focusing on the Hamas-Israel and Russia-Ukraine wars.

Francois Wu (吳志中) was interviewed on the political talk show “Points de Vue” hosted by Le Figaro TV. Taiwan and its allies should be highly aware that if the conflict between Hamas and Israel intensified, China might believe it had an opportunity to reorganize the world order, the envoy said.

Wu suggested that Beijing might assume the United States was stretched thin, as a large-scale conflict in the Middle East might draw more defense resources, CNA reported. In China’s eyes, such a situation might suggest that the U.S. did not have sufficient firepower to get involved in a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, he added.

Asked whether China was likely to follow the examples of Russia and Hamas, Wu said war was unlikely to break out soon, but of course, he was worried to some extent.

The envoy also emphasized it was impossible to gauge the comparative military power of Taiwan and China by looking at their population numbers. Taiwan’s democracy had also won it major overseas support, which was growing at an unthinkable pace, he said.

An estimated 800 people followed the discussion between Wu and Le Figaro TV Editor-in-Chief Vincent Roux live, according to CNA.