A Chinese ‘unilateral action’ on Taiwan would hit ‘literally every country on earth,’ Blinken warns

Any attempt by China to forcefully change the status quo with Taiwan would hit “quite literally every country on earth,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in an interview with Euronews in which he also made clear his country does not seek a direct confrontation with China.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has vowed to reunite the democratic island with the mainland, a goal that Western countries interpret as a coded language for a possible full-scale military intervention sometime in the future.

These fears have drastically increased after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has caused an evident deterioration in relations between China and the West.

Speaking to Euronews, Antony Blinken shared his personal anxiety and warned of far-reaching and enormously damaging consequences if China makes a unilateral move against Taiwan.

“I heard this in conversations with many of our NATO allies as well as partners in Asia: there is concern that, were there to be a crisis as a result of China’s actions over Taiwan, that would have repercussions for quite literally every country on earth,” Blinken said.

“50% of global commercial traffic goes through the Taiwan Strait every day. 70% of the semiconductors that we need for our smartphones, for our dishwashers, for our cars, they’re made in Taiwan,” he went on.

“If there was some kind of crisis as a result of something that China did, that would have terribly disruptive effects on the global economy, which is why countries around the world look to everyone to behave and act responsibly.”

Despite the growing tensions between the two superpowers, Blinken insisted Washington is determined to manage relations with Beijing “responsibility” and would not alter the long-standing One China policy that recognises the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China.

“We have been very clear that we do not want, we do not seek a conflict. We’re not trying to contain China. We, on the contrary, want to preserve peace, stability, create opportunity,” Blinken said.

“When it comes to Taiwan, our policy has been consistent for decades. Any differences between mainland China and Taiwan need to be resolved peacefully. Neither side should do anything to disrupt the status quo, nor take any unilateral actions that would do that.”

Blinken noted that every country has “complicated and very consequential” relations with China and defended a strategy of “de-risking” rather than decoupling, an approach that has also been voiced by several European leaders.

“Yes, we’re in competition. Nothing wrong with competition as long as it’s fair,” he said. “But we want to make sure that that competition does not veer into conflict.”