Over the weekend, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley explained that if China invades Taiwan then it would be far more devastating to the global economy than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Haley made her comments during an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan while discussing the threat China poses to the world.
She talked about a recent trip she took to Taiwan where she learned about how they are preparing militarily for a potential war with China, including by reducing investment in China, extending the length of required military service for 18-year-olds, and training with the United States.
“When it comes to our allies, when it comes to freedom-loving countries, we need to be the best friend to them that we can, because, if China takes Taiwan, what we saw with Russia and Ukraine, it affected 1 percent of GDP, and you saw the economy shake from that,” she said. “If China takes Taiwan, it would be 10 percent of the global GDP. That’s $10 trillion, compared to the $1 trillion in Ukraine. We need to care about that. We need to care about it from freedom. We need to care about it from the economy. We need to care about it from security.”
She went on to say that Americans should not assume that everything will be “OK” if the United States is overly isolationist and ignores Russian and Chinese aggression.
“What Taiwan is asking for is joint military training and to partner with us so that they can make weapons to defend themselves, and they want intelligence-sharing,” she said. “The best way to prevent war from China is to start arming Taiwan now and making sure that they’re ready.”
