China Angry Macron Links Ukraine's Defense To Taiwan's Threat

JAKARTA - China criticized French President Emmanuel Macron's speech linking Ukraine's defenses to the need to protect Taiwan from the Chinese invasion. Macron's statement is seen by China as a "double standard"

As part of a speech on the risk of division between China and the United States, Macron said at the Shangri-La Dialogue defense meeting, if Russia was allowed to take any part of Ukraine without a hitch, then what could happen in Taiwan?

In a Facebook post, the Chinese embassy in Singapore said comparing Taiwan's problems with Ukraine's problems was "unacceptable".

"Both of them are of different nature and cannot be compared at all," the upload said, saying Taiwan is entirely China's internal affairs.

"If someone tries to denounce a 'double standard' on double standards, the only result we can get is a fixed double standard," the Chinese Embassy said in a statement.

The embassy post did not mention Macron directly, but was accompanied by a photo of him talking at the event.

Beijing had previously sent defense ministers and other senior military officials to the annual meeting, which ended on Sunday, but this year sent a delegation of low-level military academics.

China considers democratically-ruled Taiwan its own territory. China has also stepped up military and political pressure to assert these claims, including increasing the intensity of war games, saying the island is one of its non-proper provinces called the state.

The Taiwanese government rejects Beijing's claim to sovereignty, saying only the island's people can decide their future.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said China put forward "an imminent threat" and any attempt to conquer Taiwan "will have devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world".

Regional diplomats said Macron's comments were completely non-isolated during free informal meetings and the risk of Russia's victory that ventured the Chinese invasion of Taiwan sometimes appeared in side discussions.

"The message from many parties supporting Ukraine is that the defensive line must be maintained if the message wants to be conveyed to China," said an East Asian envoy.