The plan to evacuate Taiwan has been underway for at least six months and “it’s heated up over the past two months or so,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official.
- A source familiar with the matter cited Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as an impetus for the planning. “Ukraine drove a relook at what the plans were,” he said.
As of 2019, more than 80,000 Americans were in Taiwan, which has faced rising threats from the Chinese military and Chinese leadership in recent years.