Defense intelligence was worried that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine would encourage China to do the same as Taiwan, said a head of Canada’s military intelligence department, saying that Western’s swift response to the conflict gave China a swift response. He said it could be discouraging.
“Until a week ago, we were very concerned about China and, in fact, wondering if China would take advantage of the opportunity to accelerate its own plans to better control overseas, especially Taiwan. “It was,” Maj. Gen. Michael Wright told the Standing Committee. National Defense (NDDN) on March 2nd.
The NDDN meeting was the second session held by the Commission since Russia launched an attack on Ukraine on February 24. go back home.
In response to the Ukrainian invasion, Western nations impose a barrage of economic sanctions on the Russian banking system, state-owned enterprises, and oligarchs with the aim of undermining Kremlin’s ability to fund military operations. did.
Canada has moved to Ban Russian crude oil imports, and announcement On February 28, an additional $ 25 million to support Ukraine provided two C-130J tactical airlift aircraft and a team of approximately 45 personnel to support NATO’s efforts.
European, Canadian, and US companies have followed suit by refusing to export Russian consumer goods. Major oil companies such as Shell also announced on February 28 that they will withdraw from all Russian businesses, following in the footsteps of BP, which announced that it will sell its stake in Russian state-owned company Rosneft.
Mr. Wright said Beijing should pay attention when NDP Rep. Lindsay Mathyssen asked whether the response from Western countries to the Ukrainian conflict was “suspended by China” in Taiwan’s ambitions. ..
“We hope that the reaction of the international community, especially NATO and the Western nations, will suspend China for any of its future authoritarian plans,” he said.
Despite Taiwan being a de facto independent country, Beijing has long regarded Taiwan as a separate state. Since March 2019, the Chinese government has stepped up its military attacks in Taiwan, sending military aircraft into the island’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
Within hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Chinese Communist Party sent nine aircraft to Taiwan’s ADIZ.
The February 24 sunrise attack recorded the 13th invasion of Taiwan’s airspace in February. In a large-scale invasion in late January, Chinese troops apparently sent 39 aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, threatening and exhausting Taiwanese troops.
Andrew Thornebrooke and Andrew Chen contributed to this report.
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Isaac Teo is a Toronto-based Epoch Times reporter.