Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States from 2009 to 2013 and Democratic candidate during the 2016 American presidential campaign, said on Saturday June 11 in “Foreign Affairs”, the geopolitical program of France Culture hosted by Christine Ockrent, that “Russia is a short-term threat”but that “China is the long-term threat”.
Hillary Clinton sees Beijing’s economic expansion as a worrying sign: “The Xi Jinping nationalist revival and the quite deliberate development of military bases and strategic points throughout the South China Sea and in Africa indicate that they clearly pose an economic threat, but also a military threat. And it it’s time for people to realize this”she warns.
Russia’s expansionist tendencies are disrupting the international order, but be careful not to lose sight of China, recalls @HillaryClinton : for her, the main long-term threat is not Moscow, but Beijing. pic.twitter.com/0wyucOh9XB
– France Culture (@franceculture) June 11, 2022
Current United States President Joe Biden said recently that he would support Taiwan against China the same way the United States supports Ukraine. What should we understand in this statement? “That’s a pretty clever message.according to the former secretary of state.
“I thought Xi Jinping was going to launch an offensive to take Taiwan in the short term, in a year or two maximum, maybe during Biden’s tenure, but Ukraine made him think on many levels.”
hillary clintonat France Culture
According to Hillary Clinton, China is clearly observing the impact of economic sanctions on the Russian economy after the invasion of Ukraine. “Consumers around the world could ask for much broader sanctions, if there is a shameless aggression from China towards Taiwan, especially with the Ukrainian precedent”she feels.
The economic situation and the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis in China could cool Beijing and calm its ardor against Taiwan: “There is also a certain level of dissatisfaction on the part of the Chinese people that we see appearing on social media. The Communist Party should take this seriously, so they may have to think twice before taking action. against Taiwan in the short term”she believes.