TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In a speech in April, a Chinese professor who resides in the U.S. claimed that China's economy is "ten times larger than Russia's" and therefore invading Taiwan would be "easy and enjoyable."

On April 1, Li Yi (李毅), a Chinese academic in the U.S. who advocates the use of force by China to annex Taiwan, delivered a speech at Chaoyang District Party School in Beijing on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the lessons that could be drawn for China's ambitions toward Taiwan. When mentioning Taiwan, he claimed that his previously mentioned plan in December for how the "liberation of Taiwan" could take place in "three days" was "completely correct" based on current events in Ukraine.

For its invasion of Taiwan, Li said that China must "use an ox cleaver to kill a chicken" by sending "overwhelming troops and firepower" to quickly unify Taiwan with China in the shortest time possible. Li claimed that the Russo-Ukrainian war has proved that while destroying Taiwan's air force, navy, missile forces, and armored forces, the campaign to invade Taiwan must include severing water, electricity, and mobile phone communications throughout Taiwan at the same time.

Li claimed that power, water, and mobile phone service will be restored to areas of Taiwan that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) occupy, while those areas the PLA has not yet conquered will continue to suffer a loss of these services, "especially mobile phones." Li appeared to refer to the latter when he described how Russian military leadership underestimated Ukraine's effective use of "information warfare, electronic warfare, and public opinion warfare."

However, he lauded Putin for spending the past eight years making military, economic, diplomatic, financial, and societal preparations for the invasion of Ukraine, including "the localization of important parts and components." He asserted that these steps taken by Russia before its attack on Ukraine demonstrate what China needs to do to prepare for its invasion of Taiwan.

Li argued that all China needs to do now is "follow suit." He alleged that China's economy is "10 times larger than Russia" and that waging war on Taiwan would be "easy and enjoyable."

The academic then said that an example of such preparations would be for China to sell US$3 trillion (NT$87.5 trillion) worth of U.S. bonds and withdraw US$60 million worth of gold prior to the invasion of Taiwan. He also called on China to first produce and store sufficient important military and civilian components, food, and ammunition, "especially intercontinental ballistic missiles, hydrogen bombs, and atomic bombs."

Li also recommended China withdraw state-owned assets from the U.S., Japan, and Europe and accelerate the promotion of the Chinese yuan (renminbi) around the world.

The Chinese academic was expelled from Taiwan in 2019 for planning to make a public speech while on a tourist visa. In his LinkedIn profile, Li claims to be a "Full Professor" located in the Greater New York Area "Looking for work in education and research" having previously served as a professor at Renmin University from 2014 to 2017 and an adjunct faculty instructor at DePaul University from 2003 to 2004 in Chicago.