\n<\/p>\n

TAIPEI, Taiwan \u2014 <\/b>T<\/span>he leader of Taiwan\u2019s legislature<\/a> argued that the democratic island must pursue deterrence against an invasion from China<\/a> by becoming like a \u201cfish bone\u201d that Chinese leader Xi Jinping<\/a> would not want to try to eat and could not swallow without choking. <\/p>\n

You Si-kun, the president of the Legislative Yuan, a position akin to the U.S. speaker of the House in Taiwan\u2019s unicameral parliamentary body, made the comments on Friday during a press conference with members of Congress following a high-profile visit by a U.S. delegation to a session of Taiwan\u2019s legislature that was heavily covered by a swarm of local Taiwanese media outlets. <\/p>\n

MCCAUL AND TAIWAN VP LINK RUSSIA’S UKRAINE INVASION TO CHINA’S TAIWAN THREATS<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n

\u201cIf Taiwan can become some sort of fish bone that China would not want to swallow and cannot swallow, then China would not dare to attempt to invade Taiwan,\u201d You said during a press conference as he stood alongside Rep. Michael McCaul<\/a> (R-TX), chairman of the Foreign Affairs<\/a> Committee, and eight other members of the House. <\/p>\n

The answer came after the Washington Examiner<\/i> asked You whether Taiwan viewed Russia\u2019s<\/a> invasion of Ukraine<\/a> as a wake-up call for the island democracy related to a potential Chinese invasion from across the Taiwan Strait and what the Taiwanese leader thought of the burgeoning alliance between Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my view, Putin actually saw Ukraine as a delicious meal, but after taking action and starting a war, he realized it\u2019s actually a fish bone that is stuck in his throat, and he can\u2019t swallow it and he can\u2019t spit it out,\u201d You said. \u201cSo, I believe this is a warning for Xi Jinping as well.\u201d <\/p>\n

U.S. Air Force Gen. Michael Minihan warned<\/a><\/u> earlier this year that China may invade Taiwan<\/a><\/u> as early as 2025. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe lesson we can take from the Russia-Ukraine war \u2026 is that we have realized that peace is very fragile, and the democratic alliance around the world needs to stay alert because we need to be prepared for any potential invasion by any authoritarian aggressors,\u201d You said. \u201cThe war in Ukraine let the people of Taiwan realize that the CCP may invade Taiwan at any moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

The “no limits” partnership announced by Xi and Putin<\/a> ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics in early 2022 came just before Russia\u2019s Ukraine invasion. Xi traveled to Moscow last month<\/a> and told Putin at the Kremlin that \u201cright now, there are changes the likes of which we haven\u2019t seen for 100 years \u2014 and we are the ones driving these changes together.\u201d Putin said he agreed, and Xi added, \u201cTake care, please, dear friend.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Chinese leader also pointed out that \u201csince last year \u2026 the all-round practical cooperation between China and Russia has yielded fruitful outcomes.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the development of international situations, of course the peace-loving people of Taiwan will be worried about the increasing China-Russia cooperation and their attempts to make changes unseen in 100 years,\u201d You said. \u201cIf you look at Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine which started last year \u2026 it was an event that was very shocking, not only to the people of Taiwan but to the entire democratic alliance around the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

You had also noted in his opening remarks that \u201cafter Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, the Russia-China cooperation has become a huge threat to democracies worldwide.\u201d <\/p>\n

Congressional Republicans have demanded the White House take more forceful steps to challenge<\/a><\/u> Beijing’s rhetorical, economic, and, at minimum,<\/a><\/u> nonlethal military support<\/a><\/u> to Russia. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified in March that the DragonBear alliance between Russia and China is \u201ccontinuing to deepen\u201d in \u201cevery sector\u201d<\/a><\/u> amid \u201creal concern\u201d about Beijing assisting Moscow\u2019s war efforts in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
The typical protocol would have been for the U.S. congressmen to meet first with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen<\/a><\/u> before meeting with You, but she was traveling in the United States, including a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library<\/a> on Wednesday. McCaul and his delegation will meet with her on Saturday when she returns to Taiwan. <\/p>\n
McCaul said during the press conference that \u201cwe live in dangerous times.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the Russian invasion of Ukraine \u2014 the largest invasion in Europe since World War II. And now, we have Communist China, as you mentioned, with its sights set on Taiwan and the Pacific,\u201d the House chairman continued. \u201cDeterrence is the key. When we project strength, we get peace. If we project weakness, we invite aggression and war. We want to do everything in our power, standing together with you, to project strength to the Communist Party in China, that an invasion or aggression will not stand, and it will not be tolerated.\u201d <\/p>\n
You said Taiwan has \u201cthree important elements to defend itself.\u201d The first was \u201cthe natural protection\u201d of the Taiwan Strait, which divides the People\u2019s Republic of China and Taiwan by sea. The Taiwanese legislative leader said the second was the \u201cadvanced weapons coming from the U.S. and other like-minded friendly nations.\u201d And the third was that \u201cthe people of Taiwan now have a very strong will to protect themselves, and in my view, a strong will to defend oneself is the best form of national defense.\u201d <\/p>\n
He added that Taiwan could become like a \u201cporcupine\u201d and that \u201cif Xi Jinping is smart enough, he will not attempt to invade Taiwan.\u201d <\/p>\n
McCaul said, \u201cWe need to harden Taiwan through enhanced weapons sales, which I sign off on, and also through joint training exercises.\u201d He contended that \u201cCommunist China needs to know that an invasion or blockade would come at too high a price\u201d and vowed that \u201cunited, we will protect Taiwan from the Chinese Communist Party, and we will promote peace, freedom, and democracy \u2014 the values that both of our countries hold so dear.\u201d <\/p>\n
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang defended the China-Russia alliance<\/a><\/u> in the context of Taiwan last month, asking, \u201cWhy does the U.S. ask China not to provide weapons to Russia while it keeps selling arms to Taiwan?\u201d <\/p>\n
You said, \u201cAmidst China\u2019s wolf-warrior diplomacy and continued threats to global peace and stability,\u201d McCaul\u2019s \u201cgesture\u201d to be \u201cphysically here to demonstrate through action the support of the U.S. Congress for Taiwan\u201d was \u201cadmirable and moving.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cOf course we welcome any friendly nations to come work together with us to fight against any sort of expansion or aggression by authoritarian regimes because Taiwan is a freedom-loving democracy and human-loving country that respects human rights, and we do not want war \u2014 we pursue peace,\u201d You added in response to a question from Fox News about whether he would welcome U.S. troops to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. \u201cIf any country attempts to violate these values and invade such a nation, then the entire democratic alliance worldwide should stand together to fight against it.\u201d <\/p>\n
You also used the opportunity to opine a bit on what he saw as the \u201cnature\u201d of the Chinese Communist Party, which he characterized as \u201ca combination of communism, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cBut it also has the traditional Chinese mentality behind all that \u2014 and this mentality is that there will be no two suns in one sky and there can only be one king in a land, and every nation on one land belongs to the kingdom,\u201d You said. \u201cChina sees itself as a celestial empire.\u201d <\/p>\n
President Joe Biden has repeatedly vowed that the U.S. would respond militarily<\/a><\/u> to defend Taiwan if China attacked the island, and each time, the White House has subsequently insisted America\u2019s decadeslong policy toward Taiwan was not shifting. <\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, there was this strategic ambiguity, and many people want to see strategic clarity,\u201d You said when asked by Bloomberg<\/i> whether he preferred strategic ambiguity or strategic clarity. \u201cHowever, in my personal view, I think that even though it is not stated clearly, we can tell that the U.S. strategies are very clear right now.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Taiwanese legislative leader also critiqued the concept of \u201cChina\u2019s peaceful rise\u201d as a \u201cscam\u201d as he pointed to the CCP\u2019s persecution of human rights inside China, its takeover in Hong Kong,<\/a> its persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang,<\/a> its militarization of the South China Sea, and its use of Confucius Institutes<\/a> and its Belt and Road Initiative to influence other countries as part of its \u201cblatant expansionist ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TAIPEI, Taiwan \u2014 The leader of Taiwan\u2019s legislature argued that the democratic island must pursue deterrence against an invasion from China by becoming like a \u201cfish bone\u201d that Chinese leader Xi Jinping would not want to try to eat and could not swallow without choking. You Si-kun, the president of the Legislative Yuan, a position<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1911568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[15748,23799,14322,12269,16189,5654,20408],"class_list":["post-1911567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-bone","tag-choke","tag-fish","tag-island","tag-jinping","tag-speaker","tag-taiwanese"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1911567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1911568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1911567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1911567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1911567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}