Suspending Ukraine aid may signal weakness to China: Ex-U.S. official

Washington, March 6 (CNA) Rush Doshi, former U.S. National Security Council director for China, expressed concern Wednesday that suspending military aid to Ukraine could send the wrong signal to Beijing regarding Washington's commitment to Taiwan.

Doshi, who served in the Biden administration, made the comments during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing titled "Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Security."

"China is watching everything that we're doing on Ukraine very closely," said Doshi, an assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, when asked how the U.S. could maintain its relationships with other countries and counter China after it "retreated its partnership" with Ukraine.

"They [China] would be very happy if, in a fit of political dysfunction or capriciousness, we decided to cut aid to Ukraine because they think that means we won't aid Taiwan should that question be called," he explained.

Doshi said U.S. actions would impact how China considers Taiwan.

His views were echoed by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell.

"What concerns me about the state of play in Ukraine on this very important topic is that if you are Taiwan right now, you should be very worried about us possibly leaving our friends in the field in Ukraine," Swalwell said.

He said if China were to invade Taiwan, it would be in the interest of the U.S., as well as in the interest of a few other countries in the region, to defend Taiwan.

However, the lawmaker said he does not see why "Europe would want to get involved unless it was a strong American partnership and strength and allyship that persuaded them to do that."

Swalwell added that the U.S. can't be tough on China but soft on Russia because "they [China] will actually think that we wouldn't really honor our commitment to Taiwan, and that the rest of the world wouldn't go with us because we would have a credibility deficit on that issue."