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THE “Axis of Evil” is trying to isolate Taiwan so China can invade – and the island hopes the UK will come to its defence, its ambassador says.
Taiwan’s Representative Vincent Yao said he wants the UK to take a stronger stance on protecting the island if its much larger neighbour attacks.
Darren Fletcher
AP
Getty
Getty
Xi Jinping has said he wants to take over Taiwan
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Yao said his country is building up its defences and hoped Britain and other Western nations would back it in an invasion.
He said: “I think people in Taiwan would remain cautiously optimistic about any hope from outside.
“Only when we demonstrate the determination for self-defence can we get the support from other countries and partners.”
Taiwan is building up its self-defence, with tech innovation, extending conscription, and stockpiling weapons.
China claims the democratically run island state, just 100 miles off its coast, is its sovereign territory,
It sends Taiwan violent threats, including to “spill blood from the heads of Taiwanese forces”, and conducts grey zone warfare.
Yao’s comments come after US President Joe Biden said America would protect Taiwan if China struck.
The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with the US on a free and open Taiwan Strait – but it is a less clear if or how Britain would support Taiwan if China invades.
Sir Keir Starmer is currently reviewing the UK’s relationship with China and Yao told The Sun he is keenly watching an outcome.
Yao said: “They [Britain] are not going to return to the EU.
“Supposedly, they want to continue to have more engagement, more involvement in the Indo-Pacific.”
Britain’s stance against China has been toughening, dubbing the country a “systemic competitor” in 2021 and a “threat” in 2022 and saying it needs to do more to protect the island.
Yao said Taiwan stands firmly with Western democracies as autocratic “Axis of Evil” countries like China and Russia seek to expand.
He said: “We believe that Taiwan is positioned in the centre of the so-called global democratic chain. We certainly consider ourselves as part of the global democratic alliance.”
China has the largest navy in the world
EPARussia and China, he said, are now pushing each other’s narratives and claims as they work together to challenge the West.
One warning Yao had for Britain was that we should be worried about more Chinese spying after the parliamentary researcher was arrested last year.
He said: “If not physical spies, but these conspiracy activities happening all the time.”
DEFENDING AGAINST CHINA
Just days ago, Taiwan’s Defence Minister Wellington Koo said China was now conducting so many military drills around the island, and it might be tricky to tell when an actual invasion is starting.
China’s navy is getting closer each day and several thousand air force flights travel through Taiwan’s airspace a year.
The Representative said China’s ambition was clear – it’s trying to “wear out” Taiwan.
He said: “They try to discredit Taiwan government’s capability to defend itself, and to try to coerce people in Taiwan, and continue to push forth a narrative of peace versus war, prosperity versus decline narratives in Taiwan and among Taiwanese people.”
Taiwan is now preparing for an invasion for China with a “whole of society” defence system.
This year conscription was extended from four months to one year and the country is reviving its reserves.
Yao said he believed that other countries in the region, like Japan and the Philippines, faced the same risk of invasion as Taiwan as they had small islands China could seize.
Darren Fletcher
AFPHe said: “I’m confident to say that the people in Taiwan, the government in Taiwan, have the determination to defend ourselves.
“And we are now trying to build up this resilience.”
DRONE WARFARE
But Taiwan isn’t rolling over and is turning to drones for defence after seeing how important they have been in Ukraine.
The country is building underwater sea drones to defend against China – which has the largest Navy in the world.
Yao said Britain and Taiwan – both islands – could work together on building those undersea drones.
He said: “There are areas that the technology development between our two countries are complementary. I certainly hope that we can work together.
“We are very strong in manufacturing all the key components, all the key components needed to build a drone made in Taiwan.”
He hopes the new government considers the high-tech products Taiwan makes as part of its defence review.
Getty
GettyCrucially, Yao pitches that would remove part of Britain’s defence supply chain away from China – which currently builds the vast majority of drones in the world.
Yao said a Chinese invasion of the island would be disastrous for the global economy because Taiwan has made itself a crucial part of it.
He said: “China actually will suffer the most. The whole world will probably suffer. We’re talking about trillions of economic loss.”
That’s because one of the key items Taiwan makes is semiconductors – or computer chips.
Those go in every piece of computer technology and require extremely expensive and specialised ‘foundries’ to produce.
But Taiwan has specialised in making them and produces over 50 per cent of the global total and 90 per cent of the advanced chips.
Production of advanced chips are crucial to future tech products like AI and quantum computing.
If Taiwan were to be invaded, blockaded, or shipping routes in the Taiwan Strait were blocked, it would create a nightmare shock to the global economy.
Yao said: “The loss will be larger than the impact of the 2008 Financial Crisis.
“And it will be larger than the impact of the war in Ukraine.”
STARMER INVITED TO TAIWAN
If Taiwan is to truly have security from a Chinese invasion it will need pals to defend it and Yao has now publicly invited PM Starmer to his country.
If Starmer were to travel to Taiwan he would be the highest ranking Western politician to make the journey since Nancy Pelosi.
A visit would infuriate China – who launched live-fire military exercises after the Speaker of the House visited in 2022.
Yao has not met directly with Starmer since the election – but there was engagement with him while Labour was in opposition.
The PM visited Taiwan in 2016 and 2018.
Yao said: “I certainly want to invite him again. The invitation is open, open invitation, standing invitation. Whenever he feels comfortable, he’s most welcome to visit Taiwan.”
Why is Taiwan diplomatically isolated?
Yao is Taiwan’s man in London – but he is not an ambassador as the UK does not officially recognise the island as its own country.
That’s because of the One China policy – that countries with the code can only recognise Communist China or Taiwan as the official China.
Both China and Taiwan see themselves as the legitimate and only government of China.
The vast majority of the world’s countries only recognise the People’s Republic of China as the ‘real’ China with 12 countries only recognising Taiwan while 183 recognising China.
That means Taiwan is shut out of many international bodies by China, like the UN and the organisations it runs.
Yao said China is trying to “force” the world into believing that Taiwan is its own domestic issue.
He said: “So that’s why they pushed this agenda… to force other countries to accept China’s position of the one country two systems, and China’s position of the one China principle.
“But we are now working with like-minded countries to push back this narrative.”
Taiwan is preparing to defend against an invasion
Darren Fletcher
English (US)