China will race to expand 'empire' and attack Taiwan during window of opportunity, experts fear

Chinese "Military harassment" of Taiwan is stoking suspicions that Beijing will attempt to seize control of the territory before the U.S. military finishes reorienting to stymy such attacks.

U.S. leaders value Taiwan as a model for how an authoritarian government can turn into a functioning democracy, as well as for its strategic placement off the coast of mainland China - an impediment to Beijing's ability to project naval power into the Pacific Ocean.

"At a time when the CCP's appetite for aggression continues to grow, Taiwan is really on the very front lines of the CCP's belligerence and is probably directly in the crosshairs of the CCP," Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, told the Heritage Foundation, echoing Chen.

"It's a Leninist empire, meaning Xi Jinping has exerted enormous centralized control over this empire through Leninist means," AEI Asian Studies director Dan Blumenthal, author of a newly released book, The China Nightmare, said during the event with McMaster.

The land borders of Xi's "Empire" are "Very, very similar" to the historic outlines of China's Qing Dynasty, which ruled for 300 years from Tibet to Taiwan - and that contributes to Beijing's appetite to absorb Taiwan.

"It's something we all should be extremely concerned about, given the level of military power that China is projecting over and around the Taiwan Strait right now," Blumenthal said, adding that they see Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's "Very existence as ... an affront to this imperial mindset and an affront to Xi Jinping's rule."

Xi has refused to meet with Tsai unless she acknowledges first that Taiwan, the last stronghold of the government overthrown during the Chinese Communist Revolution, is subordinate to "One China." In 2019, he unveiled a "One country, two systems" proposal for Taiwan modeled on the arrangement between Beijing and Hong Kong, but Chinese authorities proceeded to deprive Hong Kong of its traditional autonomy under that deal soon after.
 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/china-will-race-to-expand-empire-and-attack-taiwan-during-window-of-opportunity-experts-fear