WASHINGTON (TNND) — As the world turns its attention to the Middle East, China’s military expansion remains in the background. The NATO Secretary General expressed concern over China’s military expansion around Taiwan.
Chinese Communist Party expert Gordon Chang said war in Asia could happen anywhere, not just in Taiwan.
“I think there’s a bigger risk of war against the Philippines,” Chang said.
A part of the Chinese military expansion includes military militia ships swarming the Iroquois Reef in the Philippines, located in the South China Sea, he said.
“The Chinese can see that the United States is bogged down in the Middle East, and they may believe that they have open season on Taiwan or the Philippines,” Chang said.
Chinese military expansion included moving planes into their airspace. They sent 74 flights that are inching very close to Taiwanese airspace.
“Beijing is engaged in some very belligerent activity against the Philippines,” Chang said. “Some of them may be even constituting acts of war.”
When it comes to foreign policy, Trump follows through on what he says, Chang said. For example, Trump committed to increasing defense spending at the NATO summit, which sends a message to China.
“President Trump clearly will do what he says he will do,” Chang said. “And I think the Chinese looked at that and said, they just don’t want to take him on.”
What Taiwan needs is to have proper military equipment to defend itself, Chang said.
“We have not been very good in meeting that commitment, because we’ve been slow walking arms sales and also we have not been selling to Taiwan what it really needs,” Chang said.
However, the conflict in the Middle East may play a role in how China takes action. Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, which is where China’s oil passes through.
“What it does is it rocks global oil markets and that hurts China as well,” Chang said. “So the psychological impact is also great.”
