The Chinese government was emboldened by Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent trip to China which was an ill-advised plan where the United States did not project strength and handed China a diplomatic win, according to two foreign policy experts who spoke with Fox News Digital.
“Antony Blinken, effectively, threw Taiwan under the bus,” former U.S. Defense Intelligence Officer Rebekah Koffler told Fox News Digital in response to Blinken’s Monday comment in China that the United States “does not support Taiwan independence.”
“His statement about the U.S. not supporting Taiwan is an invitation to Beijing to execute its long-held ambition of establishing control over the self-governing island,” Kofffler said. “Xi Jinping will almost certainly be emboldened by Blinken’s announcement to invade Taiwan. Although it was Xi’s plan regardless, now Beijing will feel more confident that Washington will not even put up a major fight and assist Taipei.”
Koffler explained her belief that Blinken’s blunt comment “singlehandedly removed the ‘strategic ambiguity’ component, on which U.S. policy has relied for decades, to keep China uncertain and guessing what the U.S. would do in response to a potential attack on Taiwan by Beijing.”
AMERICANS IN TAIWAN MOSTLY UNFAZED BY US EVACUATION PLAN REPORT
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, pose for photographers in Beijing Monday June 19, 2023. (AP)
“I am not sure there was, at least not for the U.S.,” Klinck said. “The optics of State being lectured in Beijing is not good. In fact, the seating arrangement in the Great Hall of the People with Xi at the head of the table was demeaning.”
Klinck acknowledged “a lot remains to be seen” and it’s possible some good comes from the meeting but said it was telling that Blinken’s reiteration of longstanding U.S. policy did not come with any public concession from China.
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Blinken faced online backlash over this comment on Monday after a trip to China that critics say showed weakness as the two countries continue to navigate increased tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
Last week, Taiwan’s air force scrambled fighter jets after a group of 10 Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait for the second time in a matter of days.
