The EU and the US are busy with the war in Ukraine – how big is the risk that China’s President Xi will seize the opportunity and attack the island state? FDP parliamentary group leader Lambsdorff and CDU MP Kiesewetter fear catastrophic consequences.
In view of new tensions between China and Taiwan, German foreign politicians are warning of an escalation of the conflict. The pressure is currently growing because a change of strategy could be imminent at the party conference of the Chinese Communist Party in the fall, said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, FDP parliamentary group leader Rheinische Post. “Should Chinese President Xi Jinping consider an attack on Taiwan, the US would have to decide whether to intervene or not. If there were an attack, it would have catastrophic consequences, including for our economy.”
A third of the world’s semiconductor production comes from Taiwan, said Lambsdorff. Semiconductors are built into smartphones, computers, cars and medical devices, for example. Almost all supply chains in industry would be affected in the event of an escalating conflict, said the FDP foreign politician. “It is in our own interest that there is no parallel conflict between Russia and Ukraine and between China and Taiwan.”
Lambsdorff’s CDU colleague Roderich Kiesewetter told the newspaper: He fears that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could come much earlier than previously assumed. China is already looking very closely at how the West is dealing with Russia. “The Chinese government could see a strategic advantage in an earlier attack because the West is currently tying up a lot of capacity in the Russia conflict.”
The communist leadership in Beijing regards free Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic and wants to isolate it internationally. The island republic with a population of 23 million, on the other hand, considers itself independent. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fears of a conquest by China have been growing. The United States has committed itself to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself – which has so far primarily meant arms deliveries.
Speculations about a possible trip to Taiwan by the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, recently exacerbated tensions: China’s military apparently held live ammunition maneuvers near Taiwan on Saturday as a warning to Washington. In the announcement of her trip, which began on Sunday, Pelosi left open whether she would make a stopover in Taiwan. China had warned vigorously about this and threatened consequences. China’s leadership perceives visits by foreign politicians to Taiwan as a provocation.