Beijing speeding up plans to seize Taiwan, Blinken says

By Rebecca Falconer
October 18th, 2022

China’s ruling party plans to annex Taiwan on a “much faster timeline” under Chinese President Xi Jinping than previously thought, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.

Of note: Blinken’s comments at an event at Stanford University in California come days after Xi said during a Chinese Communist Party congress speech that the “wheels of history are rolling on toward China’s reunification” with Taiwan and “we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary.”

What he’s saying: “There has been a change in the approach from Beijing toward Taiwan in recent years,” Blinken said at the Stanford forum with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“Instead of sticking with the status quo that was established in a positive way, a fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable and that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline,” he continued.
“And if peaceful means didn’t work, then it would employ coercive means and possibly, if coercive means don’t work, maybe forceful means — to achieve its objectives. And that is what is profoundly disrupting the status quo and creating tremendous tensions.”

Read Full Article