US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a crisis in the Taiwan Strait would not be an “internal matter”, but one that concerns “literally the whole world”. He was speaking in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic published on the one year anniversary of the Ukraine War.

Blinken explained that a crisis over Taiwan would not be an issue of sovereignty as China would claim it to be. That’s because fifty percent of global commercial container traffic goes through the Taiwan Strait every day. Most of the semiconductors that the world relies on for its smartphones, cars and appliances also are produced in Taiwan. A crisis in Taiwan would have disastrous consequences for the global economy and countries around the world. 

Blinken also said that the ways countries are coming together in terms of sanctions must be something that China is factoring into its thinking about Taiwan. Blinken said that sanctions against Russia would only escalate and they are doing serious damage to Russia.  Blinken said that the US has seen more convergence with its partners in Europe and in Asia than any time in the past 30 years. This means that America’s ability to deal with global challenges is stronger than it’s ever been.