Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Sunday that if communist China were to take over Taiwan that they would become the most powerful economic and military force in the world.
McCaul made the remarks during an interview with Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” while talking about his recent visit to Taiwan where the Chinese military surrounded the island to conduct military exercises.
“We’re not gonna let that deter us or sway us in any way, we have every right to meet with President Tsai and show our support to stand with Taiwan against … in the face of aggression,” McCaul said. “As you mentioned, weakness invites aggression … and this is all I’ve seen from this administration, is projecting weakness and when you do that, you invite aggression and war, that we saw this after Afghanistan fell, we saw it when Putin invaded Ukraine, and now we’re seeing it with Chairman Xi threatening Taiwan and the Pacific Islands.”
McCaul said that the Biden administration was making a major error by not trying harder to deliver weapons systems that Taiwan previously bought from the U.S. that are critical for deterring a potential invasion.
“The deterrence promotes peace and stops conflict. If we have no deterrence, just like Ukraine, if we have no deterrence on the ground, in Taiwan, rest assured Chairman Xi will make that calculation,” he said. “If he can’t influence the next Taiwanese presidential election, he will go to plan B, and either do a blockade or military invasion of the island. So deterrence is absolutely critical.”
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would mean that the communist nation would acquire Taiwan’s powerful semiconductor manufacturing plants, which produce 90% of the world’s advanced microchips.
“China would be the most dominating economic and military force on the planet,” McCaul said in reference to what would happen if they successfully captured the island.
When asked if China may try to do something next year to gain control of Taiwan, McCaul said that he believes that they are going to first try to interfere with the island nation’s upcoming elections.
“You already had the former president of Taiwan in China meeting with the PRC about their preferred candidate going into that presidential election in January,” he said. “If they prevail and influence the election, they win just like Hong Kong without a shot fired. If they don’t prevail, then they go to plan B, and I think that would be likely a blockade type scenario where they cut the sea cable. A massive cyber event on the island and they shut it down and they cut off all food and water for a matter of a month and then they take it over.”
