Trump is handing China a 'golden opportunity' to invade Taiwan: expert

Donald Trump's inability to manage affairs with China is creating an opportunity for the superpower to eventually invade Taiwan without fear of U.S. intervention.

That is according to longtime foreign affairs correspondent Simon Tisdale in a column published on June 1 in the Guardian.

According to Tisdale, "China’s president, Xi Jinping, has reportedly told his generals to be ready by 2027 to conquer the self-governing island, which he regards as stolen sovereign territory," with U.S. officials admitting the capabilities are already in place.

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The columnist suggested Trump's on-again, off-again tariff war, combined with his innate "cowardice," has made the threat of invasion more likely because he is seen in China as weak.

The Chinese pushback on tariffs could lead President Xi to call Trump's bluff and use provocation about Taiwan as a tool to put him on the spot.

"Were China to obstruct Taiwanese maritime traffic, launch covert cyber-attacks on Taiwan, or impose a full naval and aerial blockade that fell short of all-out invasion, it could force Trump into a humiliating climbdown," he wrote before noting, "Trump doesn’t want a war in east Asia, and Beijing knows it. It also rightly suspects that, like bullies everywhere, his aggressive bluster conceals a coward’s weakness. He refuses to fight for Ukraine, a core western interest, and kowtows to Russian aggression. He’s terrified Israel will start full-scale wars with Iran and Syria, drawing in the US. His policies are driven by self-interest, money and fear, not principles, treaties or laws."

He then warned, "Xi surely frames the battle for Taiwan as part of the wider contest between the US and China for regional partners, military superiority and global hegemony. Now a golden opportunity is arising. Thanks to Trump’s chaotic tariffs, domestic firefights, isolationist policies and wanton disruption of European and Asian alliances, the US now looks beatable."

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