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China uses access to its market and its control over manufacturing to punish countries and force itself into positions where it can dictate the policies of other nations. Australia’s wine industry was decimated after its government called for investigations into the source of COVID-19, and Beijing retaliated effectively with sanctions on Australian wine.
The list goes on and on and is almost impossible to exhaust. Couple these actions with the fact that China is the fastest growing nuclear power, and its never-ending imperial ambitions. China has also proven far more adept than even Russia at information warfare – utilising its control over TikTok to control algorithms and push users into believing pro-Beijing narratives, while censoring or quashing the reach of anything critical of China.
China has never given up on taking Taiwan – a vibrant democracy and one of the freest countries on the planet. But even if you do not care for the rights of the Taiwanese people, there is a strategic reason to fear the CCP’s ambitions over the island republic. Taiwan is the leading source of semiconductors and chips needed to power the modern world’s computers and technology.