China is “weighing carefully” the resistance of the Ukrainians and the economic costs incurred by Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine while keeping an eye on Taiwan, CIA Director William Burns says.
Burns believes Beijing has closely monitored the Russia–Ukraine war to analyze the costs and consequences of using force to gain control over Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as part of its territory.
“I don’t for a minute think that it’s eroded [Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s] determination over time to gain control over Taiwan. But I think it’s something that’s affecting their calculation about how and when they go about doing that,” he said.
Russia recognizes Taiwan as “an inalienable part of China” and rejects the island’s independence “in any form,” while Beijing backed Russia’s opposition to the enlargement of NATO, according to their joint statement.
However, Burns said Xi is “unsettled” by the reputational damage of being associated with the “brutishness” of the Russian leadership and the fact that the war has led to stronger cooperation between the United States and Europe.
He added that Xi is also troubled by the economic uncertainties posed by the Russia–Ukraine war.
“I think what the bitter experience in many ways of [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] Russia in Ukraine over the last 10 or 11 weeks has done is demonstrate that that friendship actually does have some limits,” Burns noted.
Tensions between self-ruled Taiwan and Beijing have been escalating, with China making its recent largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defense zone on May 6 with fighter jets and bombers.
Taiwan responded by issuing radio warnings and deploying air defense missile systems to monitor the Chinese warplanes.
