China’s recent moves to militarize the South China Sea do not threaten Washington’s ability to defend Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said.
“Our treaty obligations to Taiwan are very strong — we’re constantly adjusting them,” Carter testified before the US House Committee on Appropriations.
Committee chairman Harold Rogers asked Carter if China’s recent actions — “procuring aircraft carriers, submarines, amphibious assault capabilities, making territorial claims to shoals and reefs in the South and East China Seas” — threatened the US’ ability to “live up” to its treaty obligations to Taiwan.
Carter replied: “Well, no.”
“Obviously, the more the threat grows from China, the more we have to adjust on both our operational approach and our technical approach,” he said.
“That’s one of the reasons why we’re making these investments, it’s because of our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to maintain our capabilities to defend Taiwan,” he said.
“China’s activities have expanded to beyond Taiwan which has been with us for several decades,” Carter said while testifying on the US’ proposed defense budget for the next fiscal year.
“Now they’re looking to the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and so forth... It’s not just Taiwan anymore, but it certainly includes Taiwan,” Carter added.
Rogers asked US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford for his opinion of the threat posed by China.
“It’s very clear to me that those capabilities that are being developed are intended to limit our ability to move into the Pacific or to operate freely within the Pacific and we call that anti-access, aerial-denial capabilities,” Dunford said.
“Their developments in anti-ship capability, anti-aircraft capability, and their blue-water navy are clearly intended to limit our ability, and that is why, in this particular budget, we have focused on our capability development that allows us to maintain a competitive advantage versus China,” he added.
China’s military expansion was the reason that the Pentagon is sending its most modern capabilities to the Pacific, Dunford said.
“Things like the F-35, the F-22 [aircraft] and so forth, and other capabilities are going to the Pacific first,” he said.
“What Secretary Carter said is true... We are capable today of meeting our obligations in the Pacific and there is no doubt in my mind that we have a competitive advantage over China,” Dunford said.
defense spending
However, if the US failed to maintain defense spending, “we would lose our competitive advantage over time and find ourselves unable to adequately advance our interests in the Pacific,” Dunford said.
Rogers asked if Chinese moves in the Asia-Pacific region were designed more to impress and intimidate its neighbors than to confront the US.
“Well, it’s both... It is definitely intended to intimidate or dominate the neighbors but it’s also strategically directed at us because we have provided the security structure in that region,” Carter said.
“We are a Pacific power, we are there to stay... It’s where half of humanity lives, half of the world’s economy, it’s an important part of the American future... We’re there to stay,” Carter said.
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