The Biden administration talks big on Taiwan, but will stand aside if Beijing invades. The Chinese have too much on the Biden crime family for him to do anything else. Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper brings us up to speed.

BREAKING: China's PLA claims that it made a full flight around the island of Taiwan for the first time using Drones, which went undetected by their military.

— The Chollima Report (@ChollimaOrg) July 27, 2022

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Esper: A year ago, most people would have viewed a major land war in Europe as inconceivable. Yet months after Russia launched a brutal invasion of Ukraine that has seen thousands of civilians killed and cities destroyed, many in the West are asking how this tragedy could have been prevented. The answer is clear: military capability, committed allies, credible policy, and resolve.

Taiwan faces a similar situation today with Communist China, an aggressive neighbor 60 times its size. Most probably cannot find Taiwan on a blank map, but it’s an advanced economy and robust democracy that has lived in the dark shadow of Beijing’s threats for decades. Preserving this democracy has long been a U.S. priority. Today, this island nation, which is slightly larger than Maryland, sits uneasily on the frontline of an escalating contest between autocracy and democracy for control of the 21st century.

Having recently visited with Taiwan’s leadership, I found both resolve and apprehension about the future. Most believe Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping will secure an unprecedented third term in the fall. This will both bolster his power and ensure his place in Chinese history alongside another authoritarian, Mao Zedong. Xi, however, aims to accomplish what his predecessors could not – mainland control of Taiwan.

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Since taking China’s helm in 2013, Xi’s iron grip has rolled back what limited freedoms his 1.4 billion people once enjoyed. In Hong Kong, he broke his pledge to respect that once-free city-state’s status with the false promise of “One Country, Two Systems.”

Meanwhile, Beijing’s bellicose foreign policy has been marked by debt diplomacy, coercion, and self-declared “wolf warrior” diplomats. Its military buildup has resulted in China now possessing the world’s largest Army and Navy, a modern air force, and a growing nuclear capability. Xi’s aim is to build an economy and a military by 2049 able to challenge America’s global leadership so that the Communist Party can rewrite international rules and norms.

At the dawn of modern U.S.-China relations in 1972, Washington supported a “One China” policy, acknowledging Beijing’s view that Taiwan is part of China, but neither endorsing nor agreeing with this position. This allowed the U.S. to thread a needle between geo-political principle and pragmatism; it was successful in pulling China to our side during the Cold War.

Despite Beijing’s best efforts through the decades to promote their interpretation of this policy, the U.S. has never recognized mainland sovereignty over Taiwan, and has long worked to help the people of Taiwan achieve the level of democracy they now enjoy.

Today, this policy has been overcome by history. A majority in Taiwan no longer consider themselves Chinese, the country long ago renounced any territorial claim to the mainland, and Beijing has consistently violated a fundamental tenet against using coercion to change the status quo…

Taiwan cannot beat China in a head-to-head conflict. But Taipei can make Xi Jinping think twice before he attacks a nation under arms – 23 million freedom-loving people who are armed, trained, and committed to their sovereignty and survival – who also have the backing of other democracies also prepared to respond to unwarranted aggression, like they did toward Russia.

If Vladimir Putin had known this about Ukraine before unjustly invading his southern neighbor, he might never have done so in the first place, and the horrors occurring in Eastern Europe could have been prevented.

This piece was written by Jim Gunner on July 28, 2022. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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