TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The United Kingdom has drawn up a number of scenarios to deal with the economic fallout of a military conflict between China and Taiwan, The Guardian reported Wednesday (Feb. 15).
While emphasizing there was no imminent risk of a war and the exercise was theoretical, British government officials said the Russian invasion of Ukraine had provided their considerations with a new impetus.
The focus of the plans was on the impact of a cross-strait conflict on the global economy, especially on the global supply chain of semiconductors, with officials describing a response as more complicated than in the case of Ukraine. The government was studying how eventual economic and trade sanctions against China would affect the British economy, the report said.
The Guardian report also noted there was pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to upgrade China from a “systemic challenge” to a “threat,” with his predecessor, Liz Truss, scheduled to demand a tougher approach during a speech in Japan on Friday (Feb. 17).
Sunak has been perceived as less hawkish on China than former Foreign Secretary Truss, but the call for a harder line has come in the run-up to an update of the country’s defense strategy expected to be published March 7, The Guardian wrote.