Former President Trump said Tuesday that "China’s going to be next" to move aggressively on the world stage after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into eastern Ukraine.
During an appearance on "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show" at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping will take Russia’s actions against Ukraine as a signal to try and take back Taiwan.
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"China’s going to be next," he said. "Oh, absolutely. Not with me, they wouldn’t have."
Former President Trump speaks to a crowd a rally at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022 in Conroe, Texas. (Getty Images)
Trump blamed President Biden for the "disaster" in Ukraine and said "this never would have happened" under his administration.
"They’re waiting until after the Olympics," he said of the Chinese government. "Now the Olympics ended, and look at your stopwatch, right? [Xi] wants that."
"It’s almost like twin sisters right here, because you have one that wants Taiwan, I think equally badly – somebody said, ‘Who wants it more?’ I think probably equally badly," he said, comparing Xi to Putin.
"Putin would have never done it, and Xi would have never done it [under my administration]," he added.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, in Florence, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Putin on Monday announced that he was recognizing two breakaway territories in Ukraine, the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, and followed it up with a deployment of troops that the White House has described as an "invasion."
"The invasion has begun," a White House official told Fox News. "So our sanctions response has begun."
Biden is expected to announce new economic sanctions against Russia after he signed an executive order Monday imposing sanctions on the separatist Ukraine regions.
President Biden speaks to update the situation of the Ukraine-Russia border crisis during an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Feb. 18, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, U.S. and European officials are preparing for a possible refugee wave out of Ukraine – raising fears of a crisis that could eclipse the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis.
"If Russia invades Ukraine even further, we will see a devastating loss of life, unimaginable suffering. Millions of displaced people will create a refugee crisis across Europe," U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Monday at the U.N. Security Council.
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Critics of the Biden administration have said its foreign policy blunders, starting with the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, have given the green light to authoritarian leaders to act aggressively across the globe.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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