Taiwan's ex-defense Minister: free US support will force the peninsula to pay an "unthinkable price"If the United States sends Taiwan free military aid, then the peninsula will have to "pay for it."
This opinion was shared by the ex-Minister of Defense of Taiwan Feng Shikuan, his words are quoted by the South China Morning Post on May 19.
"If you suddenly get such free help, you need to pay a certain unthinkable price," this is how Shikuan reacted to the statement of the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin.
Austin, in turn, previously stated that the US Defense Ministry would provide Taiwan with serious military assistance — according to Western media, these are weapons and ammunition worth $ 500 million.
At the same time, the former Minister of Defense of Taiwan noted that the "unthinkable price" would not be war.
On May 6, Bloomberg reported that the United States is preparing a package of military assistance for Taiwan, which the American administration intends to transfer under an accelerated procedure. Already, the country's congress has authorized the American president to direct up to $1 billion from the country's reserves to "support island democracy."
Before that, on April 6, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China would not make concessions on the Taiwan issue. According to him, "anyone who expects China to make concessions is indulging in unrealistic dreams."
The escalation of the conflict between China and Taiwan occurred after the visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to the island in August 2022. The Chinese side considers Taiwan to be its territory, therefore it considers visiting the island by officials of other countries as support for Taiwan's independence.
The island of Taiwan has been governed by an independent administration since 1949, when the Kuomintang forces led by General Chiang Kai-shek, who lost the civil war with the Communist Party of China, moved to Taiwan. Contacts between the island and mainland China later resumed.
