US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has turned down an appeal from US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain to disinvite China from next year’s Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercises in Hawaii.
Carter said in a letter to McCain that the exercises help “demonstrate US leadership and determination to all maritime powers in the region, including China.”
The US House of Representatives in May added an amendment to a bill authorizing the US military budget for next year stipulating that if the US Department of Defense invited China to participate in RIMPAC, a similar invitation had to be extended to Taiwan.
That bill is now being considered by a conference committee before being sent to US President Barack Obama for his signature.
Capitol Hill insiders say that it is unlikely the amendment to include Taiwan in the drills will survive. Nevertheless, in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2016 being considered by the committee, clause 1257 requires the defense department to invite Taiwan to RIMPAC if China is invited.
RIMPAC is the largest international maritime warfare exercise in the world and the People’s Liberation Army Navy took part for the first time last summer.
The Ministry of National Defense in Taipei has said that it would welcome such an invitation.
McCain and US Senator Jack Reed, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote to Carter earlier this year saying they had learned the US Pacific Fleet had invited China to next year’s RIMPAC.
“We think this decision is misguided,” they said.
“Given the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China’s] provocative actions in the East and South China seas, our government should be considering policy options that impose costs on China’s disruptive behavior, not reward it,” they said.
In his reply — leaked to the “Breaking Defense” Web site — Carter said that China was “engaging in some conduct that is causing us to respond and to draw closer to the many allies and partners that share our concern.”
However, he refused to disinvite China because RIMPAC allows participants “to exercise key operational practices and procedures that are essential to ensuring that tactical misunderstandings do not escalate into crisis,” he said.
“I am closely monitoring events in the South China Sea and may modify our defense engagement decisions based on evolving circumstances,” he said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS