A failure to deter China from invading Taiwan could well lead to a deadly conflict between Beijing’s troops and the U.S., lawmakers and policy experts warn.

As hot wars rage in the Middle East and Europe, the fragile peace in the Indo-Pacific is being regarded by some as one of the last barriers between the U.S. and a full-scale global fight not seen since World War II.

"What I do worry about is it would escalate to a scale that we have not seen," House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital from a hotel in Taipei. "I talk about Churchill and the unnecessary war – we could have prevented it earlier and saved a lot of blood and treasure. We're gonna be spending a hell of a lot more money, and a lot more blood and treasure, if we get thrown into what my father’s generation got thrown into."

McCaul led a delegation to Taiwan to meet with its newly-inaugurated government days after China staged large-scale military drills in the region, sending dozens of warplanes and ships to simulate a blockade and rapid-fire takeover of the island.

AfriPrime App link:   Absolutely risk free and FREE for download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

The House Taiwan Caucus cocChair, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., who is also on the trip, told Fox News Digital, "If the United States were to not show up in a conflict, or if we were to lose a conflict, and if the island were overrun, it would drive a wedge between our other allies – Japan, and the Philippines – and the broader Indo-Pacific in ways that would have massive negative repercussions."

He pointed out that Taiwan is one of the few U.S.-friendly islands in the Pacific that sits between China and the U.S. West Coast. Barr said a takeover of Taiwan would "embolden" China to push its territorial claims further towards U.S. soil and its neighboring territories.

"So, the whole security structure of the world would be altered in a very negative way," he said.

Dr. I-Chung Lai, president of The Prospect Foundation, a Taiwanese think tank, argued that a direct war between the U.S. and China could kick off if China took over Taiwan and was emboldened to hit U.S. military units elsewhere in the region.

He noted that China would feel threatened by the possible existence of a U.S. B-21 stealth bomber in the region. The development and testing of the high-tech aircraft has already prompted criticism from Beijing’s state media.

"They could attack the U.S. bases in Japan, for example, the Philippines for example. And even in [South Korea], because from Beijing's point of view, the closest space that can threaten China [are] actually the U.S. bases in Korea, which is…probably just several hundred kilometers [away]," Lai said.

"And if there's a B-21 there, they can shoot at Beijing, just [with] a snap of their fingers. So China definitely would try to take all those bases."

Dr. Ming-Shih Shen of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said, "Of course, China will think about the cost of a direct war between the United States and China," when considering an invasion of Taiwan.

"I don't know how the Chinese wouldn't perceive that an aggression to Taiwan would be perceived as an aggression to the United States," said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., another lawmaker in the delegation.

In addition to being strategically important to the U.S. for its location in the Indo-Pacific, Taiwan also plays a critical role in the global economy due to its massive semiconductor industry. Sixty percent of the world’s semiconductors are produced here. China has the second-largest share of production.

"What would happen if there was any sort of invasion…not just Taiwan would shut down, but you'd see a major shutdown in a lot of parts of the world, including parts of the United States," said delegation member Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif.

"Look what happened in COVID. Look what happened when you drove by and wanted to buy a vehicle, the car dealerships were completely empty. When you needed an appliance, [stores] were completely empty. And that was just because of supply chain slowdowns."

He pointed out that semiconductors are used in everything from everyday kitchen appliances to smartphones.

"This would be an actual stop of everything – not a slowdown – a stop of these types of semiconductor chips that are literally in almost everything we use right now," Panetta said. "That's what people need to realize that when they pick up their iPhone or go to the refrigerator or get in their car, most likely that semiconductor chip is coming from Taiwan."

AfriPrime App link:   Absolutely risk free and FREE for download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

U.S. lawmakers' message for Taiwan amid political turmoil: 'Democracy is messy'

 It was a message delivered in blunt terms.

“Democracy is messy. Democracy can be hard, but it is far better to have a messy democracy than to be controlled by an authoritarian,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., told NBC News on Wednesday during a two-day visit to Taiwan.

She and three other U.S. senators arrived on the Beijing-claimed island in the midst of domestic political turmoil, as the executive cabinet said it would reject parliamentary reforms passed by the opposition-controlled legislature that are seen as favoring China.

The delegation led by Duckworth and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, also includes Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Laphonza Butler, D-Calif. They are the second bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers to arrive in Taiwan this week, after a delegation of six House lawmakers led by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that arrived on Sunday.

The House lawmakers were the first group of current U.S. officials to meet with Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, a former vice president Beijing labels a “separatist.”

Even as China held military drills around Taiwan in recent days in response to Lai’s inauguration on May 20, the island has been focused more on the proposed changes, which increase oversight of the government. The reforms, approved on Tuesday, give lawmakers greater power to control budgets, including defense spending that had been blocked by the opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), which officially backs unification with China.

AfriPrime App link:   Absolutely risk free and FREE for download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which lost its majority in the legislature in the January election, opposed the changes, saying they expand parliamentary authority at the expense of the president and were pushed through without proper consultation. In a statement on Tuesday, the executive cabinet said the changes might be in violation of the constitution and that it would send them back to the legislature for review.

The dispute has led tens of thousands of protesters to gather outside the legislature and set off physical fights among lawmakers in the chamber, which was filled with banners from both sides on Tuesday.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., a member of the House delegation, said the heated politics were “the product of a free society.”

“This is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength,” he said. “It is a sign of a mature, multiparty democracy that is seeking checks and balances.”

Though the United States does not have formal relations with Taiwan, it is the island’s most important international backer and arms supplier. U.S. lawmakers regularly travel to Taiwan over the objections of Beijing, which views such visits as provocative and a violation of Washington’s longstanding one-China policy.

The lawmakers’ visits come days after China, which has not ruled out the use of force in unifying with Taiwan, conducted two days of “punishment” drills around the island in response to Lai’s inauguration speech, in which he urged Beijing to cease its threats and “face the reality” of Taiwan’s existence.

Though Lai favors maintaining the status quo — neither formally declaring independence nor becoming part of China — Beijing has rebuffed his offers of talks.

China’s joint military exercises were held Thursday and Friday in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast, leading Taiwan’s military to mobilize its own forces.

Tsai Ming-yen, director-general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, told reporters on Wednesday that the aim of China’s drills was “to intimidate Taiwan, rather than initiate a war.”

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Wednesday that the drills were “a just action to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Spokesperson Zhu Fenglian criticized Lai over his stance on Taiwan and said such military actions would not cease “as long as the provocation for ‘Taiwan independence’ continues.”

Though Lai’s victory in the January election secured the DPP an unprecedented third consecutive presidential term, the party lost its majority in the legislature, constraining his policy agenda.

No party has a majority on its own, but the KMT won the most seats and passed the parliamentary reforms with the help of the small Taiwan People’s Party.

The changes expand the legislature’s investigative powers, require the president to report regularly to lawmakers and answer questions from them, and criminalize contempt of parliament by government officials.

The KMT says the changes are necessary to improve government accountability. It denies being pro-Beijing and says claims that it is acting at the behest of China are groundless and politically motivated.

Duckworth said that in her meetings with Taiwan lawmakers from different parties, they clearly understood “that they have to come together and work with each other” in the face of the threat from China, which has stepped up pressure on the island in recent years.

She said a similar unity was on display when Congress approved almost $2 billion in military aid for Taiwan last month.

“I think it’s clear, to at least the members of Congress, how important this region of the world is for America’s national security,” she said.

AfriPrime App link:   Absolutely risk free and FREE for download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

GOP lawmaker shreds Biden's lack of ‘moral clarity’ on Taiwan

A top Republican on the House Taiwan Caucus is blasting President Biden for what he calls a lack of "moral clarity" on the U.S. relationship with Taiwan.

Caucus co-Chair Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., spoke with Fox News Digital in Taipei as part of the first U.S. Congressional delegation to meet with Taiwan’s newly-inaugurated government.

"This is the problem with the Biden administration, they're not— it's not ambiguity," Barr said. "It's the fact that they contradict themselves."

"It's the fact that Biden makes a statement to try to clarify the U.S. position and then the state department walks it back. And so the fact that there's not a moral clarity, and a consistency, in communicating about the threat from China, undermines the credibility and the deterrence provided by this administration," he said.

There have been several high-profile instances since Biden took office in which his forceful statements in Taiwan’s defense have had to be walked back by officials within his own administration, according to published reports.

He told CNN in October 2021 that the U.S. had a "commitment" to come to Taiwan’s defense if China attacked the island.

It prompted an aggressive response from the Chinese Communist Party, which accused Biden of violating the longstanding "One China" policy, which does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation with its own formal diplomatic ties.

Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki later said, "The president was not announcing any change in our policy, nor has he made a decision to change our policy."

AfriPrime App link:   Absolutely risk free and FREE for download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

Similar incidents occurred in August 2021 as well as May and October of 2022.

Dr. I-Chung Lai, president of the Taiwan-based think tank The Prospect Foundation, explained that while those situations are not interpreted as U.S. support wavering, they did somewhat undermine the president.

"It did help people to have the perception that, internally, the U.S. government is not coherent in its approach, and especially the walk-back by the people under you…that also in my view, makes President Biden [not look] as authoritative as he should be. I do not think that will help the U.S. credibility in the world," Lai said.

Democrats on the Taiwan trip, meanwhile, argued that Biden’s statements and the subsequent clean-up attempts did not undercut the U.S. position and actually bolstered the country’s goal of "strategic ambiguity" on Beijing and Taipei.

"I think it’s honestly kind of an asset – a feature, not a bug," Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., told Fox News Digital in Taipei. "It’s strategic ambiguity…but I do believe that he means it when he says that America will stand with Taiwan."

Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., told Fox News Digital: "I actually think we're making them stronger. Because trust me, the four times that the president has made those statements, the people here in Taiwan are counting each and every one of them."

The congressional delegation is led by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and also includes the panel's subcommittee chair for the Indo-Pacific, Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., subcommittee chair for the Middle East.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not hear back at press time.

AfriPrime App link:   Absolutely risk free and FREE for download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT