Taiwan must shape the information space early to avoid being blamed for escalation if it responds with force to Chinese incursions, a former US Navy intelligence head said on Friday last week.
In such a scenario, Taiwan should seek to frame Chinese forces as aggressors and a threat to the entire region, former US Office of Naval Intelligence commander Mike Studeman told the Central News Agency when asked to comment on the outcome of a tabletop war game held in Taipei last week.
The exercise simulated a Chinese naval intrusion into Taiwan’s territorial waters in 2030.
In the war game, Taiwan chose not to immediately strike the Chinese navy vessels to avoid being blamed for an escalation.
However, former US officials participating in the exercise said that Taiwan might eventually need to open fire to expel Chinese intruders, but added that it should give them advance warning.
Taiwan’s failure to demonstrate resolve would “only invite deeper and unacceptable encroachments,” Studeman said.
Taiwan is guided by concern that the US would not come to its aid if it were to be seen as the cause of escalation. The Taiwan fact sheet on the US Department of State Web site reads: “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait.”
It is highly unlikely that any country’s administration would blame Taiwan if it were to fire upon a foreign navy that failed to leave its waters following a warning. It is also unlikely that a US decision to intervene to assist with Taiwan’s defense during a conflict would be contingent upon Taiwan not defending itself. If anything, the US would probably be more reluctant to intervene if Taiwan did not fire upon a foreign aggressor challenging its sovereignty and ignoring warning calls.
A US president’s decision on whether to help defend Taiwan would partially depend on Taipei’s ability and willingness to defend itself, retired US admiral and former US Pacific Fleet commander Dennis Blair said on Wednesday last week.
Last week’s tabletop exercises concluded that Taiwan might need to resist an invasion attempt for a few months to give allies time to assist. Part of Taiwan’s ability to do so would hinge upon a timely response to the initial phase of the attempt. If China were to be able to land a contingent of troops on Taiwan proper before Taiwanese forces even fired a shot, that would allow China to carry out sabotage missions.
Commenting on the tabletop exercise, a source on Sunday said that during the simulation, the Taiwanese team put forces in a state of heightened readiness and surveillance after Chinese vessels entered Taiwan’s territorial waters. Presumably, in a real-life scenario, Taiwanese forces would already be on heightened alert whenever Chinese vessels cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait. They should be prepared to open fire before the Chinese vessels even reached 12 nautical miles (22.2km) from Taiwan’s shore, if the vessels’ crews failed to explain the encroachment and stayed their course toward shore.
In April there was a public outcry online after a Chinese cruise ship, the Gulangyu (鼓浪嶼號), sailed within 2 nautical miles of Pingtung County’s Hengchun Peninsula. Following the incident, one analyst said that China could transport hundreds of troops to Taiwan undetected using such a vessel.
Taiwan should invest heavily in its coast guard, including through the purchase of sea and underwater drones, so that it can effectively monitor its extensive coastlines. It should also establish a clear protocol for engaging Chinese vessels that intrude into its territorial waters, and have the resolve to fire upon intruders in a timely manner if necessary.
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
Out of 64 participating universities in this year’s Stars Program — through which schools directly recommend their top students to universities for admission — only 19 filled their admissions quotas. There were 922 vacancies, down more than 200 from last year; top universities had 37 unfilled places, 40 fewer than last year. The original purpose of the Stars Program was to expand admissions to a wider range of students. However, certain departments at elite universities that failed to meet their admissions quotas are not improving. Vacancies at top universities are linked to students’ program preferences on their applications, but inappropriate admission
On Monday, a group of bipartisan US senators arrived in Taiwan to support the nation’s special defense bill to counter Chinese threats. At the same time, Beijing announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had invited Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to visit China, a move to make the KMT a pawn in its proxy warfare against Taiwan and the US. Since her inauguration as KMT chair last year, Cheng, widely seen as a pro-China figure, has made no secret of her desire to interact with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and meet with Xi, naming it a
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) took the stage at a protest rally on Sunday in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei in support of former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for corruption and embezzlement. Huang told the crowd that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) had sent a message of support the previous day, saying she would be traveling from the south to Taipei: If the protest continued into the evening, she had said, she would show up. The rally was due to end
RSS