Taiwan sees "a very threatening China these days" and Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told Newsmax his country is preparing to be invaded.
"We try to prepare for an event that China may launch war against Taiwan," Wu told Wednesday's "The Record" with Greta Van Susteren. "From what we see recently, China seems to be gearing up its military preparations."
Wu points to the "evidence" of China's military buildup, including naval exercises east of Taiwan for two weeks in early May and air exercises in Taiwan's airspace. Also, China has been more and more emboldened on the Taiwan Strait not being international waterway, a point of contention the U.S. has been forward in contesting of late.
"Their spokesperson for the PLA [People's Liberation of China] has spoken about the medium line of the Taiwan Strait does not exist because Taiwan is part of China," Wu told Van Susteren, noting the medium line of the Taiwan Strait has been "safeguarding status quo and peace and stability over this area for years."
"Very recently, their ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson also talked about Taiwan is part of China and therefore the Taiwan Strait is not an international water, so if we put all this together, we see a very threatening China these days."
As much as Russia's invasion amid Vladimir Putin's claims of Ukraine as a part of Russia might lead to China's aggression on Taiwan, Wu noted, he added Ukraine's defense against aggression has been "inspirational."
"The most important thing for us is that we need to be prepared, and we are trying to beef up our defense capabilities to face a situation that China may launch war against Taiwan," Wu told Susteren. "And in this regard, I would say that war in Ukraine serves as a very inspirational example for us. And we try to beef up our defense capabilities. At the same time, we try to toughen our determination to defend ourselves."
Like Ukraine, Wu said Taiwan is ready to mobilize its own citizens to defend itself against a potential Chinese invasion.
"We also are preparing for asymmetric warfare by taking examples from Ukraine, and we also try to conduct mobilization type of effort so that regular people here in Taiwan and Taiwan's military reserve can also stand up to safeguard the country if they need to," he said.
Wu, as has President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in regard to Ukraine, called on other nations to support his country.
"What we need at this moment is more support from the international community," Wu continued. "And the U.S. government has been supporting Taiwan based on the Taiwan Relations Act and the six issuances by providing Taiwan with arms and training and other type of military cooperation. And I think that is very important.
"Other than that, we also need the United States and other major democracies to continue to speak out about the importance of peace and stability over the Taiwan Strait and which is something that we have been getting."
Wu said Taiwan being a democracy and "a democratic success story" makes it important for other countries to defend them. He also said the island’s economic importance often gets overlooked.
"Taiwan produces more than 90% of the most advanced microchips for the rest of the world," Wu told Susteren, "and if Taiwan is attacked and the supply chain is interrupted because of the war, it's going to impact upon the United States and all other major economies. And this is something that should not be overlooked."
Wu added he and his countrymen, like the Ukrainians, believe they will "prevail" if China attempts to invade.
"Taiwan is standing on the front line guarding against the expansion of authoritarianism," he told Susteren. "And we are responsible for safeguarding the rest of that democracy, saying we are responsible for our own security. And we understand that Taiwan might be small and weak compared to China. But we are determined and we have faith in ourselves.
"We have faith in democracy. And we believe that democracy is going to prevail, and Taiwan is going to prevail."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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