TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Ryan Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, cautioned against comparing the US strike on Venezuela to Taiwan’s situation in a series of X posts on Saturday.

Hass, who previously served as director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the National Security Council, said the US operation in Caracas is unlikely to change Beijing’s strategy on Taiwan.

He said Beijing would be more concerned about protecting its interests in Latin America than drawing lessons from US actions in Venezuela to change how it handles Taiwan.

China would publicly condemn the US and portray itself as abiding by international law. However, he assessed that Beijing would privately “emphasize to Washington it expects to be given the same latitude for great power exemptions to international law that the US takes for itself.”

Beijing has never stopped military activity around Taiwan, Hass said. He said that if Beijing attacks Taiwan, the US will still be able to gather its allies and rally a global response despite its poor track record of following international law.

Hass said China is not making changes to its Taiwan policy. “If Beijing shifts its approach, it will not be because of US actions in Venezuela,” he said.