US Response To Russia May Determine China Taiwan Strategy

China's posturing towards Taiwan has intensified in recent weeks and military maneuvers into the South China Sea and Taiwanese airspace have led to fears that a duel military crises in Europe and Asia Pacific is increasingly likely.

• Analysts believe that China may be monitoring the US and NATO response to Russian aggression to determine the likely US response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
• Barrack Obama's Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Danny Russel said: 'If Putin should invade and refuse to withdraw from Ukraine, the failure of the U.S. to deter him followed by the failure to expel him would vastly strengthen Beijing’s campaign to convince people on Taiwan (and elsewhere in Asia) that ‘resistance is futile’ because the U.S. security pledges are no longer credible.'
• UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss suggested this week that Russia and China '...may create a simultaneous two-prong military crisis in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.'
• Beijing claims Taiwan as a province and has a long standing ambition to retake the island.
• In response to Chinese military incursions of Taiwanese airspace US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: 'It looks a lot like them exploring their true capabilities and sure it looks a lot like rehearsals'.