The US and its allies should jointly respond to China’s live ammunition drills designed to intimidate Taiwan by holding “freedom of navigation” operations in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei’s official representative to the UK has said. The UK, like most western countries, does not recognise Taiwan and has no formal defence ties with the country. Hsieh said the events in Hong Kong had changed the views of many in Taiwan about China. It was a self-orchestrated crisis.”But he insisted the Chinese response would not intimidate Taiwan or stop its supporters from visiting the country. Neither the US or the UK have explicitly said how they would respond if China invaded Taiwan, but UK licences for arms exports to Taiwan have grown in the past two years.

Source: The Guardian August 11, 2022 22:37 UTC