Given the Biden administration’s failure in handling the US pullout from Afghanistan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US former President Donald Trump believes China might be emboldened to invade Taiwan.
Speaking exclusively in an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday, March 2, Trump reportedly said that Taiwan may be “next” for a potential invasion, as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict may impact China’s rising aggression.
“Taiwan is going to be next. Just watch Taiwan; President Xi is watching with glee,” Trump was quoted as saying.
President Trump reiterated that he expects China to invade Taiwan soon. pic.twitter.com/cu4MpIVCQ5
— Pedestrian Patriot 🍊 (@DLevelwind) March 3, 2022
When the FOX Business host asked Trump if he expected Taiwan to invade sooner rather than later, the former president took a direct dig at his successor and the incumbent US President Joe Biden, saying that “they’re seeing that our leaders are incompetent, and of course, they’re going to do, this is their time. They did nothing on Ukraine. They do nothing.”
Donald Trump also stated that China is closely monitoring the Russia-Ukraine crisis. He also stated that Chinese President Xi Jinping is taking cues from the US’s handling of Afghanistan’s evacuation after the Taliban seized power last year.
“President Xi happens to be a man with a high intelligence level, and he looks at what happened in Afghanistan…He saw the way that we left Afghanistan…left American citizens there… is still trying to get out…he sees that and this is his opportunity to do what he wants to do,” Donald Trump said.
“Many people are dying, and we’re allowing this to happen. It would have never happened [if I was still president]. It should have never happened. Putin never would have done it with me. I can tell you that,” Trump said claiming that he gave Ukraine the anti-tank missiles while Biden gave little and Obama gave them blankets.
Ukraine has fought Russia capably, far better than most people expected, Trump remarked, stressing that Putin would never do such a thing to him (Trump).
The US shared intelligence with China on Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine, China shared the info with Moscow
On February 26, OpIndia reported on how senior Biden administration officials held urgent meetings with the Chinese diplomats and presented them intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine.
In response, the Chinese officials, including the Foreign Minister and the Ambassador to the United States, ignored American officials, saying they did not see any Russian invasion of Ukraine coming.
The Biden administration was desperate to stop Russians and thus shared intelligence with China on Russia’s troop buildup in hopes that President Xi Jinping would step in. The officials privy to this information said that the Biden administration shared high-level info with its adversary to gain support from China to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine.
However, the Chinese government repeatedly rebuffed the efforts and instead turned over the intelligence data to Moscow.
The US officials believe that their information was relayed to Russia by China, noting that the Biden administration was trying to sow division between China and Russia.
Russia’s ‘military operations’ against Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced limited military strikes against Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the special operation in eastern Ukraine in a televised address.
Putin made it clear that Russia had no intention of invading Ukraine. He stated that the military operation he announced was in reaction to threats from Ukraine and would strive to “demilitarise” and “denazify” Ukraine.
The Russian military entered Ukraine through Belarus, according to Ukraine’s border guard service. According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian military crossed Belarus to enter Ukraine from the north. Russian troops have launched an attack on Ukraine’s northern border forces.