Natalie Winters

And what would I think really create that is if a invasion of Taiwan that is supposed to be very stealth and quick did not actually happen.

Basically what you saw happening in Russia and Ukraine, a long protracted conflict is only going to give the Chinese generals that he has been purging over time at a level like we've never seen the sort of

you know, pretext and the conditions to seize power from him.

So that's why what's going on from a military perspective with regard to the buildup in Taiwan is so important because it's not just that it affects U.S.-China relations.

I think domestically, that is the most powerful kind of arrow in the quiver where you could see any movement on Xi Jinping.

Well, let's start with Taiwan.

I mean—

What we talk about here, right, the gray zone warfare, the hybrid warfare, I mean, that is the lived reality of the Taiwanese people every single day.

And I think that the sort of prevailing consensus, my kind of assessment, too, from having spent time there.

is that the Chinese Communist Party sees that as probably the most viable path forward to take over Taiwan because the question is essentially how would the United States get involved if they were to blockade or do anything sort of more in that realm as opposed to outright kinetic conflict.

Also, of course, with Taiwan.

Mainland China viewing Taiwan as a part of it, it's not necessarily in their interest to go and kill millions of Taiwanese people.

And like I said, I do think the largest factor that's keeping Xi Jinping from doing that is the belief that if it's not a swift victory, he really threatens his own political dominance and ascension.

So the fact that the United States is building up is probably really one of the strongest deterrent factors that you see going on there.

But the disinformation campaigns, the manipulation, the cyber attacks, everything that they are doing in Taiwan, I would describe it as a test run or a battleground, sort of a petri dish for what they want to do in the United States, all the way down to election interference, hacking election machines, toying with candidates, essentially buying off entire political parties, making it

So political candidates over there are actively opposed to Taiwan being able to defend itself.

So the political warfare there has progressed so much further than what we've seen here, which is why I take such an interest in it.

And I think it's incumbent upon us to learn what is going on over there, because if we don't fight to keep out PRC influence here, that is what America's future will look like.

Throughout the broader Southeast Asia region, which I've now spent a lot of time in over the last few months,

I mean, China owns it.