TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Amid Ukraine's shocking rout of Russian forces, a Japanese journalist based in Taiwan wrote that Russia has "lost the war" and that China will become the next "common enemy of all people."
Following spectacular gains by Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv Oblast over the weekend, Yaita Akio, chief of the Taipei Bureau of Sankei Shimbun, on his Facebook page on Monday wrote, that in the history of warfare between East and West, when an invading force suffered a comprehensive counterattack and a rout, "there is basically no chance of a comeback." Yaita pointed out that although Russia still has hundreds of thousands of troops that could be mobilized, after more than half a year of fighting, its offensive weapons such as missiles, tanks, and drones have been heavily depleted.
Yaita concluded, "basically, Russia has lost the war." He wrote that there may be a few more months of fighting, but the war "has entered garbage time."
The journalist predicted that Russia's defeat would bring a new world order in the future. First, he asserted that Europe would see peace for the first time since 1946 as it would no longer face the threat of the Soviet or Russian "behemoth expanding westward" for at least 20 years.
Second, Yaita stated that China's Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) has made serious miscalculations and "made wrong bets in this war" for which he will "pay a considerable price." In addition, Yaita argued that China's "perverse actions" in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan have been unanimously condemned by the international community and that it is likely to become the next "common enemy of all people" after Russia's decline.
Yaita also expressed his belief that Beijing's wolf warrior diplomacy over the past few years has made the international community warier of China. He suggested that even if China wishes to restore relations with European countries and the U.S., and returns to its previous policy of reform and opening-up, it will find it difficult to win back their trust.
Moreover, Yaita noted that China's domestic economy has gradually lost vitality in recent years and its practice of debt diplomacy is yielding diminishing returns in the international community.
Yaita concluded that the Russo-Ukrainian war will end with the "defeat of the aggressors, which is of course a good thing for Taiwan." He predicted that in the future, the international community will focus more on the security of the Taiwan Strait.
However, he cautioned not to take the threat from China lightly and the importance of strengthening civil defense awareness and staying vigilant for "desperate, high-risk gambits by the dictator on the other side."
