One big issue is absorbing G7 these days. Possible war on Taiwan.
Chief among the points of tension is how far to go in trying to stop a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which could trigger world war and wreck the global economy. The self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own, provides most of the world’s advanced computer chips that are vital to the tech and defense industries.
Not all European governments are convinced it’s something they need to prioritize. See this.
From the reporting above, I deduce several things:
- The possibility of a Taiwan war has become very real – and it plagues all of the G7.
- The US is obviously ready to go far in case of a Taiwan war – it seems even to the point of US entering war with China.
- The US is pushing the EU to support a war against China, first of all with sanctions and trade embargo, but even to the point of the EU participating with the US in war with China.
- Berlin and Paris don’t see a Taiwan war as their prime business.
- The prospect of a Taiwan war scares the sh*t out of the EU, and especially Berlin doesn’t want to take part in hostilities – they perhaps don’t even want to break trade ties with China if a Taiwan war breaks out.
The scare of a Taiwan war comes as NATO and the EU are struggling to support Ukraine against an ever-stronger Russia in the Ukraine war.
Last night, Russia claims to have destroyed 5 Patriot missile batteries, the most advanced air defense system of the US. Reports are, that the US has ordered Ukraine to shut down remaining Patriot systems until the US knows what to do. If true that Russia can massively destroy Patriot air defenses, this leaves NATO and Taiwan completely vulnerable to Russian missiles.
Expectations for Ukraine’s “counteroffensive” are continuously being downplayed, and the “counteroffensive” is postponed all the time. In Artemovsk (Bakhmut), Ukraine has been taking enormous casualties making some progress on the flanks. But Russia has all but conquered the city itself. Russia’s capture of Artemovsk is soon to be announced.
Understandably, Paris and especially Berlin have a waning appetite for being involved in a second far bigger war on Taiwan, in that case against an even stronger adversary than Russia.
Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
He is a regular contributor to Global Research.