Washington’s need to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack is greater today than it was 30 years ago, a leading US military strategist said on Tuesday.
“Taiwan is everything we preach about — it is what we want other countries to be,” said Thomas McNaugher, director of studies at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies.
Invading Taiwan would be an “extremely dicey” operation, McNaugher told an Atlantic Council discussion titled “Conflict in the Taiwan Strait?”
Amphibious assaults are very tough and China does not have any particular experience in that area, he said.
Rather than a direct attack, Beijing might try a blockade if it decided to force unification, he said.
However, a blockade would take a lot of time to enforce and that would allow US power to build up “pretty effectively,” he said.
McNaugher said that China’s military buildup has been very effective and comprehensive, and Beijing was continuing to make “steady, relentless progress.”
He said the US still had an edge in the conventional balance of power, but that “we have entered that fuzzy area where there is a lot of uncertainty about how this would go.”
In case of an attack, US intervention would depend on how the hostilities started, McNaugher said.
“Taiwan is a raucous democracy; they even have fist fights in the legislature. It has a great economy with great human rights,” he said. “If we were to let Taiwan go to a rapacious and naked Chinese attack, not only would it destroy the global economy, it would undermine our credibility.”
On the other hand, if a war started because Taiwan “promotes it,” there would be a real question about US support, he said.
The message to the Taiwanese was that in case of a conflict with China they had to be the victims and not the promoters, he said.
One way for Taiwan to avoid an attack would be for it to “very visibly” build up its ability to defend itself and increase the level of deterrence, he said.
In related news, Walter Lohman, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said in a new paper that the US should clarify its support for Taiwan.
As “carefully and responsibly” as president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) might approach relations with China, they nevertheless fundamentally rejected Beijing’s dream of ultimate unification, and this would remain an underlying source of tension as long as the DPP remains in power, he wrote.
US President Barack Obama’s administration should establish “unwavering support” for Taiwan’s security and prerogative in determining its own future, Lohman said.
“To this end, the administration should facilitate new arms sales, or, failing this, at least begin building interagency consensus and support on Capitol Hill and Taipei to facilitate approval early in 2017,” he wrote.
“New fighter jets and diesel-electric submarines should be at the top of the list,” he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS