A senior US defense official has accused China of changing the "status quo" in the Taiwan Strait by its missile buildup aimed at Taiwan, a situation that is forcing Washington to devise new ways to deal with the danger of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
The official, Peter Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, also pointed out that the US has developed improved defense relationships with a horseshoe-shaped ring of Asian nations around China that might come into play if China attacks Taiwan.
He made his comments in testimony at a hearing on China's military modernization conducted by the US Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally established investigative body, in Washington on Thursday.
While administration officials from US President George W. Bush down have long warned against unilateral changes to the "status quo" by either side of the Strait, this is believed to be the most direct assertion by a senior official in an open, official forum that China has unilaterally changed the "status quo."
In his testimony, Rodman ticked off a wide range of advanced weaponry that Beijing has acquired in recent years, much of it aimed at Taiwan, that has altered the military equation in the Strait, and has required new thinking by the US.
"Our will to meet our security commitments remain firm. This shows both that PLA [People's Liberation Army] modernization affects our strategic calculus for Taiwan Strait security and that a prudent hedging policy is essential," Rodman said.
"US policy opposes unilateral changes in the Taiwan Strait status quo by either party. The PLA military build-up changes that status quo and requires us to adapt to the new situation, as we are doing," Rodman said.
Afterwards, asked by reporters, Rodman pointed to the Chinese missile buildup across from Taiwan: "When you go from zero missiles opposite [Taiwan in] the Taiwan Strait, and a few years later there are 700, that's a change in the status quo."
When asked how the US is responding, Rodman said "Our job is to maintain a military balance in the region and we take our responsibility seriously."
"We have commitments to many friends and allies and obviously its our duty to make sure we're in a position to carry out those commitments," he added.
Rodman declined to be specific on revisions in US strategy to deal with the situation.
"It's a continuing process. It's our duty to be prepared for possible situations. I don't see this as an issue of alarm, it's an issue of prudence and what one would expect us to be doing," he said.
In response to a question at the hearing by a commission member to explain US "hedging policy," Rodman said, "it means being realistic about the risks of a Taiwan contingency and being prepared for that. It means keeping an eye on what they're doing and being ready to deal with it if the worst case should happen."
Rodman then added, "It means collaborating with allies." He said that over the past several years "our defense relations with a number of other countries in the region have improved, because other countries have the same reaction we do to China's rise."
In pointing to specific Chinese weapons acquisitions, Rodman mentioned Beijing's acquisition of five modern submarines, 10 new varieties of ballistic missiles with enhanced targeting capabilities, anti-ship cruise missiles and expeditionary warfare, including amphibious lift acquisitions.
also see story:
Cross-strait clash means `everybody loses,' US warns
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS