Brent Sadler

And so we have to kind of judge and moderate our thinking on that.

Economically,

For Beijing, the military cost, the economic cost is worth taking it to settle this civil war that's been unsettled since 1949 in their mind.

Militarily, here's where it's very dangerous for Western interests.

When the Chinese have Taiwan, mainland Chinese, if they were to do that, now they have unfettered access to the Philippine Sea and the wider Pacific Ocean.

They will then be encouraged because now they're defensive perimeter and they'll feel compelled to start to press further out more directly.

They're military, they're economic, they're political, diplomatic.

It's already happening.

If you look at the Solomon Islands with the secret security pact,

a few years ago that was uncovered.

That will then go into hyperdrive across the Pacific because the Chinese will view, okay, now we have to protect Taiwan.

These Western powers are our enemies.

Where next do we need to worry about?

And they'll increase.

It won't diminish.

It will actually increase

the likelihood of confrontation, and the challenges to American and our Western-aligned thinking.

So it's a much bigger problem when dealing with this very committed communist worldview.

So the summit has my attention because the Chinese are trying to ensure that they meet minimum expectations.

And if we go into that summit and don't hold firm, we could give them more than they deserve.