US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien on Wednesday warned China against any attempt to take Taiwan by force, saying amphibious landings were notoriously difficult and there was a lot of ambiguity about how the US would respond.
O’Brien told an event at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas that China was engaged in a massive naval buildup probably not seen since Germany’s attempt to compete with Britain’s Royal Navy prior to World War I.
“Part of that is to give them the ability to push us back out of the Western Pacific and allow them to engage in an amphibious landing in Taiwan,” O’Brien said.
Photo: Reuters
“The problem with that is that amphibious landings are notoriously difficult,” O’Brien added, pointing to the 160km distance between China and Taiwan, and the paucity of landing beaches.
“It’s not an easy task and there’s also a lot of ambiguity about what the United States would do in response to an attack by China on Taiwan,” he added, when asked what the US options would be if China tried to absorb Taiwan.
O’Brien was referring to a long-standing US policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the question of whether it would intervene to protect Taiwan.
The US is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, but it has not made clear whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack, something that would likely lead to a much broader conflict.
O’Brien’s comments came at a time when China has significantly stepped up military activity near Taiwan and US-China relations have plunged to the lowest point in decades.
O’Brien repeated US calls for Taiwan to spend more on its own defense and to carry out military reforms that make clear to China the risks of attempting to invade.
“You can’t just spend 1 percent of your GDP, which the Taiwanese have been doing — 1.2 percent — on defense and hope to deter a China that’s been engaged in the most massive military buildup in 70 years,” he said.
Taiwan needed to “turn themselves into a porcupine” militarily, he said.
“Lions generally don’t like to eat porcupines,” he added.
US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs David Helvey on Tuesday called Taiwan’s plan to boost defense spending by US$1.4 billion next year insufficient.
Taiwan needed to invest in more cruise missiles, fast-attack craft, naval mines, mobile artillery and advanced surveillance assets, he said.
In Taipei, the Ministry of National Defense (MND), in a response provided to Reuters, yesterday said that it would “strive for an adequate budget” in accordance with its needs to build a solid national defense force.
The ministry also confirmed that a US MC-130J aircraft had flown along the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
The US Air Force special operations transport aircraft flew into the Strait from the north at about 11am and headed south through the Strait before veering off toward the southeast at about 12:30pm, a civilian plane spotter said in a post on Twitter.
The flight could have been a confirmation of the median line in the Strait after the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month denied its existence.
The median line is thought to have been established by the US in the 1950s to prevent further conflict between China and Taiwan.
MND spokesman Shih Shun-wen (史順文) said that the military has been closely monitoring all movement around Taiwan, adding that there was nothing out of the ordinary about the plane’s passage.
Additional reporting by CNA
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
HOTEL HIRING: An official said that hoteliers could begin hiring migrant workers next year, but must adhere to a rule requiring a NT$2,000 salary hike for Taiwanese The government is to allow the hospitality industry to recruit mid-level migrant workers for housekeeping and three other lines of work after the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal by the Ministry of Labor. A shortage of workers at hotels and accommodation facilities was discussed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. A 2023 survey conducted by the Tourism Administration found that Taiwan’s lodging industry was short of about 6,600 housekeeping and cleaning workers, the agency said in a report to the committee. The shortage of workers in the industry is being studied, the report said. Hotel and Lodging Division Deputy Director Cheng
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS