Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
Current and future wars are advancing at breakneck speed around the world. All wars are regional in appearance, but they involve, in one way or another, the world’s economic and military powers. It is therefore pertinent to warn all citizens that danger lurks.
The Ukrainian military has just dealt a severe blow to the Russian air force, destroying a large number of its most essential bombers, including some supersonic ones. At the same time, the countries of the European Union have given Ukraine the green light to launch its missiles, many of them US-made, against targets inside Russia. This means that the war that was confined to Ukraine has now spread to Russian territory. The Europeans have concluded that the Russian threat to use its nuclear weapons against anyone who dares to attack its territory is hollow and without real substance. The nuclear threat has been taken off the table.
But the war in Ukraine continues, and the United States is showing its inability to go beyond rhetoric about the need for peace in the region. Trump revealed his false face, as did Putin, by making threats he has no intention of carrying out. He demands peace, but is unable to implement it.
This US indecision has encouraged China and Xi Jinping to take a chance, testing the feasibility of invading Taiwan. Every day, Chinese naval forces are getting closer to Taiwan, while the Chinese air force constantly violates Taiwanese airspace. For China’s current leadership, the conquest of Taiwan is tantamount to saying that Mao’s Revolution has finally triumphed. It is a matter of the epic narrative of Marxism-Leninism in China, as described in Mao’s Little Red Book.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned that there is an “imminent danger” of an attempt by China to take the island of Taiwan by force. Hegseth added that such action would spell disaster for the world. He was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue forum in Singapore before Asian military leaders, including a high-ranking Chinese military official. He declared that any attempt by China to take Taiwan would be “totally unacceptable”. He urged the international community to build a powerful military alliance to thwart Chinese intentions in the region, including its ongoing “bullying” of the Philippines.
Hegseth’s statement surprised everyone. Of course, the Chinese representative denounced the US defense secretary’s comment as false and malicious. But many in the room wondered about this “shift” in US policy toward China. Until very recently, the Trump administration maintained that there was no credible or imminent Chinese threat to Taiwan and that China would not do anything “stupid” while Trump was president.
What prompted this change in US assessment? Some speculated that Trump was starting to sound like a weak president, but that he was shouting a lot. They argued, “There’s the case of Ukraine, where he sides with the aggressor and not the victim, being incapable of resolving the conflict, and in the Middle East, he is ultimately unable to tame and control Netanyahu’s warlike impulses, while opening a confusing door with Iran…”
What does all this have to do with Taiwan? That, just like with his “tariff war,” Trump ultimately backs down in every case because he does not have the spirit of an intelligent warrior. He is no Sun Tzu. The Chinese may think he is a clumsy and cowardly liar. Consequently, a perfectly possible conclusion on the part of the Chinese government is that now is the best time to invade Taiwan, with Trump as President of the United States.
The world is at war. Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Palestine, Iran, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. Even Mexico faces a war situation with drug trafficking. The warning is clear: without conciliatory dialogue, present and future wars will spread worldwide.
@rpascoep
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