China is keeping a close eye on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will likely learn from this conflict to adjust its plans to take control of Taiwan, CIA Director Bill Burns warned on Saturday. .
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“Chinese leaders are carefully watching what lessons they can learn from Ukraine regarding their own ambitions and Taiwan,” he said.
Beijing was “surprised” by the setbacks of the Russian army and by the strong resistance of Ukrainian society, analyzed the boss of the main American intelligence agency during a conference organized by the newspaper Financial Times.
“I think they were particularly struck by the way the Atlantic Alliance came together to impose economic costs on Russia in response to its aggression,” he continued.
Troubled
China was “troubled by the fact that Putin brought Europeans closer to Americans”, according to Bill Burns.
“As for the conclusions that are drawn, that remains a question mark. »
According to him, the Chinese leaders are studying “the costs and consequences” of a possible use of force to take control of Taiwan.
The 23 million inhabitants of the island live under the constant threat of an invasion by China, which considers Taiwan as part of its territory to be taken back one day, by force if necessary.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has heightened fears on the Taiwanese side that Beijing will follow through on its annexation threats.
200 attacks
At the same time, it undermined the protection of human rights and international humanitarian law.
After a four-day visit to Kyiv and its region, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, on Saturday denounced “dizzying” violations.
In total, there have been “200 attacks on health establishments” in this country since the outbreak of hostilities, deplored, for his part, the boss of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in front of the press in Kyiv.
As for the Western response, difficult negotiations were underway between the 27 EU member states to reach an agreement this weekend on a plan to stop Russian oil imports, which Hungary has blocked so far.
–With Laurent Lavoie
