The US’ top military officer, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday that tensions between China and Taiwan had “gone down” in recent months and that he believed the danger of armed conflict had been reduced.
Asked at a Washington conference on military leadership if China was still focused on intimidating Taiwan, he replied: “What I’ve seen with the election of a new government in Taiwan is that there is a more stable relationship between Taipei and Beijing.”
“In that regard, it seems to be moving in the right direction. We are still very clear on our one China policy in that what we want to see is a peaceful resolution between Taiwan and China over time,” he said.
Mullen said that the US had obligations to support Taiwan, that the US had fulfilled those obligations in the past and that “we will continue to do so.”
But turning to the longer term future he said that while “most of all” Washington wanted to see the China-Taiwan situation resolved peacefully
“When we think about conflict in that part of the world, that’s often very much on people’s minds,” he said.
The admiral stressed that the US-China military-to-military relationship — only recently restored after a long break triggered by US weapons sales to Taiwan — was of great importance.
He said that China was developing military technologies “very focused” on US capabilities, particularly aircraft carriers.
In addition, Mullen said, Beijing was building ballistic missiles, space and anti-satellite weapons “and they are heavily engaged in the cyber world and it’s a concern.”
“So, that issue is certainly one that we consistently address ... I’m just hopeful that we can have enough of a relationship with their military leaders to be able to talk with them about these challenges and address them and listen and also listen to their concerns,” Mullen said.
“On the one hand, they’re a growing country and certainly they have growing global requirements, even growing regional requirements,” he said. “I’m hoping that we can have enough of a relationship with them that we can avoid any serious conflict in the future. It’s a very stable region, generally speaking.”
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
RSS