TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday said that if the nation ended its funding for Ukraine's war effort it would be a "death sentence for Taiwan."
Although the House of Representatives was able to avoid a government shutdown just hours before the midnight deadline it came at the cost of aid for Ukraine. House Republicans stripped US$300 million (NT$9.7 billion) in funding for Ukraine and placed it in a separate bill.
Meanwhile House Speaker Kevin McCarthy rejected a Senate package that would have sent US$6 billion to Ukraine, a third of what had been requested by Biden, per Time.
During an interview on the CBS program "Meet the Press" on Sunday (Oct. 1), Graham was asked whether he would ask Donald Trump to publically support Ukraine. The Republican said that he would leave it up to Trump to decide on what action to take, but noted the former president had wanted the U.S. to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Graham was then asked about Russian leader Vladimir Putin praising Trump's comments about ending the Russo-Ukraininan war in "one day." Graham did not respond directly to the interaction between Putin and Trump, but said Trump did not withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan "even though he wanted to."
Graham said the "biggest mistake" the U.S. has made since the war on terror was pulling out of Afghanistan. He then warned that if Washington were to "pull the plug on Ukraine, that's 10 times worse than Afghanistan."
Indicating that such an abandonment would hurt U.S. credibility when trying to deter China from invading Taiwan, Graham said: "There goes Taiwan." The senator added that if the U.S. were to end funding for Ukraine it would be a "death sentence for Taiwan."
Graham predicted that if the U.S. terminated support for Ukraine, Putin would continue his assault on the country. Pointing to parallels to World War II, he said, "You missed all of World War II if you don't know how this movie ends."
However, he said that if Ukraine can defeat Russia on the battlefield, "China's less likely to invade Taiwan, and Putin gets stopped."
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the phrase, "Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow" has been circulating on Taiwanese social media. Lee Kuan-chen (李冠成), an assistant researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, was cited by CNA as saying the slogan was part of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) psychological operations scheme.
Lee said such operations conducted by the CCP since the Russian invasion led to short-term drops in public confidence in Taiwan's defense capabilities. However, he added, countermeasures conducted by the military have been successful in restoring public trust in the country's armed forces' fighting ability.
When asked by Taiwan News to comment on Graham's remarks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement:
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has noted the discussions in the U.S. Congress regarding the issue of aid to Ukraine. Taiwan has always been sincerely grateful to our friends in the U.S. Congress for their continued concern for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan and Ukraine are both at the forefront of fighting authoritarian expansion. As a responsible democratic member of the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan will continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities and resolve.
Taiwan will work together with all like-minded partners to strengthen the resilience of the global democratic community, jointly maintain regional peace and stability, and counter threats and expansion by authoritarian regimes."
Lindsey Graham on the importance of U.S. military aid for Ukraine:
“If we pull the plug on Ukraine, that's 10 times worse than Afghanistan. It would be a death sentence for Taiwan (…) You missed all of WWII if you don’t know how this movie ends.”
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