The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday said that the risk of war with China was diminishing with the growth of economic ties with the country.
Despite concern over Beijing's rapid and secret military build-up and tension in the Taiwan Strait, General Peter Pace said Washington and Beijing had more shared interests than differences.
"I am optimistic about the future with regard to China. There is much more that the two countries have in common than we have not in common," said Pace, the top military advisor to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"As we continue to build the economic bridges between the two countries and as each country becomes more and more dependent on the other for prosperity, when you do that you lessen significantly any probability of military complications," he said.
A Pentagon report last year estimated China's defense spending at two to three times greater than acknowledged by Beijing, or up to US$90 billion for the year.
Last month Japan identified China as a military threat because of its opaque military spending.
Pace, a Marine Corps officer who took over as chairman of the joint chiefs last year, said it was the military's job to identify capabilities it would need for future events.
"You do not focus on countries but on potential capabilities that you will need, and then build to that," he said.
He said that on North Korea, Washington needed to look at the country's fighting capabilities which included an army of 1.2 million troops and "be prepared to counter that overwhelmingly."
He said a transformation of the US-South Korea alliance was in progress, including reducing US forces in South Korea from 37,000 to 25,000 by 2008 and withdrawing them from the border with North Korea to bases south of Seoul.
He said it was hard to be certain of Pyongyang's intent, but "you need to be prepared if their intent is ill."
"We are fully capable today of defeating any North Korean aggression and we will maintain that capacity," he said.
Pace said that the Pentagon's Quadrennial Report, to be released next week, will assess US military needs over the next 20 years.
"It will be a lookout, as best you can look out, 20 years into the future," he said.
South Korea's move to regain wartime control over its troops, which now would come under the operational control of the commander of US forces here in times of conflict, was welcome, he said.
"This is an opportunity, not a challenge," he said of talks that are scheduled for this year.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2