Should China want to annex the island of Taiwan by military means, Germany would have to react to Russia's attack on Ukraine. At least that's how FDP General Secretary Djir-Saai sees it. Beijing should be sanctioned accordingly - even if the sanctions were not a one-way street.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai calls for western sanctions against China's leadership and economy in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. "A Chinese military attack on Taiwan would be a devastating escalation of the status quo," Djir-Sarai told Handelsblatt. "In this case, it would be important for the West to react immediately with personal and economic sanctions against China."
He explained: "Personal sanctions would of course have to hit the Chinese leadership, such as Chinese President Xi, high-ranking representatives from the party structures and those responsible in the military." In addition, the newspaper quoted him as saying that the economic sanctions should be based on those that Europe has imposed on Russia.
"However, economic sanctions would not be a one-way street, but would also harm us enormously, since the mutual economic dependencies are simply too great," said the FDP politician, who is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag. "That would be the price we would have to pay to credibly defend our freedom and our values."
Beijing had launched military maneuvers around the island in response to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. It is China's largest show of military power since the "missile crisis" in the mid-1990s, when the United States sent two aircraft carriers. China sees Taiwan as part of the People's Republic, threatens to conquer it and vehemently rejects official contacts with other countries. But the Taiwanese have long seen themselves as independent. Djir-Sarai expressed concern. "I am convinced that there is a real danger that China wants to annex Taiwan," he said.
