Former UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps called on the country and its allies to help Ukraine defeat Russia, otherwise China will be signaled to attack Taiwan and then the West will suffer global consequences.
He wrote about this in a column for The Sunday Times.
Shapps emphasized that China has clearly expressed its position on “reunification” with a democratic Taiwan hundreds of times. In fact, it is an intention to carry out aggression to seize the island.
However, according to him, despite the abundance of available information, “the world for some reason does not understand the importance of this upcoming war in the Indo-Pacific region.”
“If you think that a conflict on a small island 6,000 miles away matters and you think that Britain shouldn’t get involved, that’s a huge mistake,” Shapps said.
In his opinion, “the world could be plunged into a deep recession that would cost trillions and destroy sectors from technology to defense, likely surpassing the financial losses from COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine combined.”
The British politician noted that when Russian dictator Putin marched on Kyiv, he hoped to capture it in a few days. However, Ukrainians had different views on their country and their future. Their desperate defense of their country confused Putin.
According to Shapps, Russia’s war against Ukraine is “an existential test for the West.”
“Will the Russian-Ukrainian war escalate into a global conflict? Do not doubt it: China and other authoritarian states want us to fail. Such countries have little regard for democracy and the rights of their citizens. Their goal is to change the world order in favor of their own totalitarian regimes,” he said.
Therefore, according to him, if “we do not do everything necessary to make Putin lose now, we will suffer the consequences not only here in Europe, but also in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world.”
“The cost of allowing our weapons to be used, even against targets inside Russia, will be minimal compared to the consequences of a Putin victory.”
Shapps argues that now is the time to authorize the use of our long-range Storm Shadow missiles without waiting for Washington’s decision. The former minister also called on the British government to double its defense support for Ukraine, “despite the cost of replenishing ammunition stocks,” and urged “the rest of NATO and other civilized nations to follow suit.”
