“We must not take our eyes off China.” Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho made this claim in a press release last year in regard to China’s expanding power both in its region and around the world. Most notably, he warned that “China has demonstrated its interest in territorial expansion in the South China Sea and particularly through its confrontational relationship with Taiwan and its southeast Asian neighbors.” A year later, his bold claims seem to be more urgent than ever before. Over the past weeks, China has escalated military activity in Taiwanese territory in dangerous ways. If ever there existed a time for NATO to step into this regional conflict, it would be now.
While the conflict between China and Taiwan has raged on since the conception of the Taiwanese state, conflicts once again flared up in August 2022, when following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, China initiated the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis by launching “large scale, unprecedented military actions around the island.” The crisis only echoes the patterns of the past seven years since the pro-independence candidate Tsai Ing-wen won the 2016 Taiwanese presidential election following the eight-year term of Ma Ying-jeou. Ma Ying-jeou was notorious for his “Beijing-friendly platform” that ushered in increased diplomacy between China and Taiwan. Once the leadership converted to a less CCP-friendly figure in 2016, China’s hostility against Taiwan increased once again. Pelosi’s visit in the fall of 2022 simply fanned the flame of an already lit fire.
These tensions have never quite been de-escalated since then. From the beginning of April 2023, China has continued to ramp up its military exercises and resources around Taiwan. In a series of behaviors eerily similar to that of Russia leading up to the attack on Ukraine, China has not only signaled a potential invasion through action but also through word of mouth. The CCP Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin warned that “the combat readiness security patrol encircling the Taiwan Island and the ‘Joint Sword’ exercises is a stern warning to the provocative activities of ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist forces and their collusion with external forces.”
An attack on Taiwan for China would spell disaster for all parties involved. This ought to be enough to deter China from attacking Taiwan, right? The senior official in charge of Indo-Chinese operations at the Pentagon thinks so. According to him, “China will not attempt to invade Taiwan before the end of the decade because it understands the high cost.” While we can idly hope that all nations would take the wisest actions, rationality has not defined contemporary regimes that long to conquer smaller states that they see as rightfully theirs. The aforementioned Russia-Ukraine conflict stands as a tragic example of this. Russia continues to bleed money — to the tune of $82 billion — into the Ukraine war, which has hardly seen any Russian success on the front. Despite their failures in the conflict, Moscow has not officially de-escalated. Considering the similar aspirations of China and Russia to recoup the former glory of their nations, it would not be far-fetched to say that much like the Kremlin, the CCP’s ideology would outweigh any economic or trade burdens a war would impose.
The West, specifically NATO, can’t just sit on its hands and do nothing. The US Federal Government has allocated $3 billion for Taiwan military funding, but one country should not be the only one taking action. This conflict means far more than just global politics. The actions of China could thrust the innocent lives of Taiwanese civilians into a battle they have no desire to take part in. Nothing Taiwan nor the US has done so far has deterred China’s aggression. Perhaps, the CCP feels empowered by the fact that Taiwan has no official relations or diplomatic ties with NATO. Now more than ever, the small island of Taiwan desperately needs help.
The former NATO General himself Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called on NATO to assist Taiwan militarily. As a coalition that protects democracy around the world, more members of NATO need to contribute to Taiwanese defense. The world saw what happened to Ukraine when global leaders chose to sit by. These nations have the opportunity to either repeat history or let the same tragedy happen again.
The time to choose is now.
