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TAIPEI, TAIWAN – A Chinese language invasion of Taiwan may have catastrophic penalties for the worldwide economic system, together with in america, warned Home International Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
“The factor that actually, I believe, makes this island extraordinarily necessary…is that 90% of the superior [semiconductor] manufacturing for the world occurs proper right here. And if an invasion occurs, I do not see a state of affairs the place that survives,” McCaul informed Fox Information Digital in an interview at his lodge in Taipei.
“All people that has telephones, vehicles – we’ve superior weapons techniques – the whole lot’s depending on semiconductors and this island, over time, as a result of we have offshored [manufacturing]…we put ourselves in a really weak place by doing that. And the shutdown of what is taking place right here, semiconductors, would actually shut down the world.”
The senior Republican made the somber prediction after assembly with Taiwan’s president and overseas minister as a part of the primary U.S. delegation to sit down down with the newly inaugurated officers.
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Home International Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul spoke with Fox Information Digital on the sidelines of his congressional delegation to Taipei, Taiwan. (Getty Pictures)
It additionally comes after China staged a few of its most aggressive navy drills but off Taiwan’s coast, sending dozens of warships and planes into the island’s territory in retaliation for feedback by its new chief, President Lai Ching-te, expressing help for its independence from Beijing’s ruling Chinese language Communist Celebration.
“These battle video games to intimidate and protest the election from China are most likely probably the most provocative I’ve ever seen by way of the numbers of ships and planes,” McCaul mentioned.
He harassed {that a} full-scale invasion by China may result in an “digital shutdown” and an financial spiral not seen because the COVID-19 pandemic threw international markets right into a tailspin.
That features ramifications for People in rural, city and suburban areas, he urged.
“From the telephones, to the automobile, tractors, the whole lot in your kitchen, our complete navy protection,” he listed.
Semiconductors are a important element for a litany of electronics, being utilized in the whole lot from healthcare to transportation, communications, navy techniques and everyday-use objects like air conditioners, televisions and fridges.
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Rep. Michael McCaul, left, is in Taiwan to fulfill with the island’s new chief, President Lai Ching-te. (Home International Affairs Committee)
“And once more, the 90% quantity – actually, it’s laborious to fathom that. It’s why we need to transfer extra manufacturing again to america, however that’s going to take time, and I don’t know what timeline [Chinese President Xi Jinping] is on,” McCaul mentioned.
He referenced Xi’s previous feedback alluding to a possible invasion of Taiwan by 2027.
“If it occurred, almost certainly, simply due to the character of the invasion from a blockade to a cyberattack to an enormous bombing train, I simply don’t see the way it survives being situated the place it’s,” McCaul mentioned. “However even to keep up it, they’re gonna must be counting on america for components… After which, what are we going to do? We don’t have the capability proper now.”
He then delivered a somber evaluation, “I believe proper now, we are going to most likely lose” if China invaded Taiwan.
“It could make Iran taking pictures into Israel seem like little one’s play…this island doesn’t have the capability to defend itself proper now,” McCaul mentioned.
Along with commemorating the brand new Taiwanese authorities’s inauguration, the U.S. group’s go to comes a month after Congress permitted an $8 billion overseas help bundle for the Indo-Pacific, together with Taiwan, to discourage China.
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The delegation additionally met with Taiwanese International Minister Lin Chia-lung. (Elizabeth Elkind/Fox Information Digital)
“They’re very pleased, and we’re more than happy we acquired our emergency supplemental achieved in time to offer them the excellent news that we’re supporting them from a navy gear standpoint,” McCaul mentioned. “I gave them some updates on the weapons and another issues we’re doing to assist them, however they simply needed me to know that the menace was getting very intense from Chairman Xi.”
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The Chinese language authorities had expressly demanded that McCaul and the opposite lawmakers, which embrace Reps. Younger Kim, R-Calif., Joe Wilson, R-S.C., Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., Andy Barr, R-Ky., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., not make the journey to Taiwan.
“We acquired a threatening communique telling me I used to be violating the One China Coverage and that there could be penalties for the members, which, they’ve by no means gone that far,” McCaul mentioned. “And now the menace to Taiwan is actual for the individuals of the island…they usually’re nervous they’re going to be the subsequent shoe to drop.”
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox Information Digital main protection of the Home of Representatives. Earlier digital bylines seen at Each day Mail and CBS Information.
Comply with on Twitter at @liz_elkind and ship tricks to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
‘Shut down the world’: McCaul warns of worldwide financial disaster if China invades Taiwan
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