CIA Director Bill Burns said on Saturday that China was closely watching Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and likely changed its long-term plans to take control of Taiwan based on the lessons learned from that war.
“The Chinese leadership is trying to carefully analyze what lessons it should learn from Ukraine about its own ambitions and Taiwan,” Burns told the Financial Times. said.
He said Beijing was “surprised” by the poor performance of the Russian military forces, as well as the fierce resistance of the entire Ukrainian community.
“I believe they were surprised by the way NATO came together to impose economic costs on Russia as a result of this aggression,” he continued.
China is “disturbed” by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bringing “Europeans and Americans” closer together, but “what consequences he draws from all this remains unclear.”
Taiwan is under threat from Beijing, which sees the island as part of its territory.
According to Burns, Beijing has not given up on this goal, but factors such as the West’s response to the invasion and its impact on the global economy “affect their calculations of how and when they will do this.”
source: Noticias
