Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Sen. John Curtis advocates U.S. support for Ukraine to deter Chinese aggression.
- He emphasizes Taiwan's strategic importance and urges actions to prevent Chinese invasion.
SALT LAKE CITY — American support for Ukraine is not only the right thing to do, but it could help deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, according to Sen. John Curtis.
The Utah Republican spoke to several hundred people at a U.S. Global Leadership Coalition conference on threats to U.S. security at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City Friday and said when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it's "not hard" to tell which side the U.S. should be on.
"We have to stay focused on who our friends are," Curtis said in response to a question about his support for Ukraine during a panel discussion. "This is why Ukraine is so easy for me: This is not hard to tell who are our friends and who are not our friends."
"Putin is not our friend," he added, drawing a round of applause to his rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "And that that is news is troubling, right?"
U.S. support for Ukraine seemed a given in the wake of Russia's invasion in early 2022, but President Donald Trump has appeared to side with Putin in the conflict, berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an Oval Office shouting match in February and accusing the Ukrainian leader of being a "dictator" — a comment Trump has since distanced himself from.
A top Trump envoy is expected to meet with Putin Friday for talks about a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, but Trump has been frustrated by Ukrainian insistence that it would not recognize land Russia has occupied since its invasion of Crimea in 2014. Retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward spoke on the panel alongside Curtis and cautioned against acceding to Putin's desire to annex occupied Ukrainian territory.
"If we give them the land that they want for them to occupy, a year or two from now they'll move further west, there's not doubt in my mind," Harward said. "We have to ensure if we're going to achieve peace now that it's a sustainable peace that prevents further aggression of the ... Russian machine."
Curtis and other Republicans also distanced themselves from the president's bluster against Zelenskyy in the past, but Curtis said Friday that U.S. support for Ukraine goes beyond aiding an ally in a fight against a foreign invasion — it also serves as deterrence to prevent similar aggression from China against its neighbor Taiwan.
"If you don't think (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) is watching what we're doing in Ukraine, you're sadly mistaken," the senator said. "And if we show that we stick with somebody a couple of months or a couple of years, and then we're gone, President Xi is paying attention to that. If for no other reason than China and Taiwan, we need to stay with Ukraine just for that reason alone."
Taiwan is the largest maker of advanced semiconductors in the world, and a Chinese incursion could plunge the U.S. economy into a recession and risk further escalation involving Australia, Japan and potentially the U.S., Curtis said.
"There's no good scenario here if China invades Taiwan and — heaven forbid — I don't know how the president makes a decision about our involvement. I don't know how you make that decision," he said. "Every way you look at that, it is bad."
So, what can the U.S. do?
"The answer is every day we do everything we can to make sure today is not the day China invades Taiwan," Curtis said. "Every day that they don't invade is a victory for us. And so you get past today, and then tomorrow and tomorrow and you keep doing things that postpone this. And guess what? Then eventually world circumstances change, world leaders change and we find ourselves in a different situation."
"But," he added, "it is imperative that we think about this, that we do all we can to help Taiwan strengthen itself, that we send the right signals. Ukraine is a really good example of those signals, because this cannot happen."
