Communist China could invade Taiwan after seeing Russian forces move into Ukraine, former President Donald Trump warned.
Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are an example of “twin sisters,” Trump said during an interview on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show on Feb. 22.
“China is gonna be next,” Trump said. “Absolutely. Not with me, they wouldn’t have.”
Taiwan’s defense minister confirmed on Thursday that nine Chinese military aircraft had entered Taiwan’s air defense zone.
Taiwan’s MoD claims 9 Chinese military aircraft entered its air defense identification zone pic.twitter.com/ShLtpcWNUI
— RT (@RT_com) February 24, 2022
All the island nation's security and military units "must raise their surveillance and early warning of military developments around the Taiwan Strait," Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told a meeting of the working group on the Ukraine crisis set up by her National Security Council.
Taiwan and Ukraine are fundamentally different in terms of geostrategy, geography and international supply chains, Tsai added in details of the meeting provided by her office.
"But in the face of foreign forces intending to manipulate the situation in Ukraine and affect the morale of Taiwanese society, all government units must strengthen the prevention of cognitive warfare launched by foreign forces and local collaborators," Tsai was quoted as saying.
Earlier this month, Putin and Xi met in China. They released a statement claiming that Russia and China enjoy strong ties in which there would be “no limits” in their partnership and “no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, oil prices on Thursday increased. Brent crude futures rose more than 8% at one point to trade above $105 per barrel. By 11:30 a.m. on Wall Street the contract stood at $103.74 for a gain of 7%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures, meanwhile, climbed over 5% to trade at $97.02.
Natural gas prices rose by 6.5%. Spot gold, traditionally seen as a safe-haven asset, climbed 2.6%, last trading at $1,957.46 per troy ounce.
A new poll released on Wednesday showed that a large majority of Americans do not want the country to play a major role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Just 26 percent of Americans say that the U.S. should have a major role in the conflict, according to the poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A majority, 52 percent, said the U.S. should have a minor role in the conflict, while 20 percent said the U.S. should have no role at all.
Split by party affiliation, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to think the U.S. should have a major role in the conflict, 32 to 22 percent.
Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington noted in a Telegram post: “As an American I’m angry about it, and I’m saddened by it, and it all happened because of a Rigged Election. This would have never happened.”
In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday, Trump suggested that neither Putin nor Xi would make a move if he were the president.
“This is something that should have never happened. It would have never happened during my administration. It really started with the weakness in Afghanistan. I really think this is when Putin started thinking he could do this,” Trump said.
Communist China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying dismissed any link between the issues of Ukraine and Taiwan.
"Taiwan is not Ukraine," she said. "Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China. This is an indisputable legal and historical fact."
The Republic of China, now in Taiwan, upholds the ancient cultural heritage of non-communist China.
Free Press International
