To avoid China-Taiwan military conflict, send Xi clear message on consequences: British spy chief

A military conflict with China over Taiwan is “not inevitable” if the West sends a clear message to Xi Jinping about the dire consequences of a “misjudged invasion”, the head of Britain’s secret intelligence service said in his first public interview outside the UK.

Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6, also emphasised the lessons to be gleaned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the significance of a possible defeat for Moscow in that conflict deterring Beijing from forcefully reuniting with Taiwan.

Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, Moore said he believed a military conflict with China over Taiwan, a self-governing island Beijing considers a renegade province, was “not inevitable at all”.

His remarks came a day after CIA director William Burns warned that China appeared determined to use force in Taiwan and that such a move was a matter of “when and how, not whether”. Burns said China was “unsettled” by Russian forces’ losses in Ukraine and that developments there were influencing China’s timeline on Taiwan.