China could invade Taiwan within the next six years, US Navy Admiral Philip Davidson said on Tuesday, raising hackles in Beijing, which yesterday accused the top US commander of attempting to “hype up” the threat of an invasion to inflate Washington’s defense spending.
“I worry that they’re [China] accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order ... by 2050,” Washington’s top military officer in the Asia-Pacific region said.
“Taiwan is clearly one of their ambitions before that and I think the threat is manifest during this decade — in fact, in the next six years,” Davidson told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing.
Photo: AP
Former US president Donald Trump embraced warmer ties with Taiwan, as he feuded with China on issues such as trade and national security.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has offered Taiwan cause for optimism for continued support aside from the US Department of State, saying in January that US commitment to the nation is “rock solid.”
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was formally invited to Biden’s inauguration, an unprecedented move since 1979.
Photo: CNA
China has also made expansive territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea and even threatens the US territory of Guam, Davidson said.
“Guam is a target today,” he said, adding that the Chinese military released a video simulating an attack on an island base strongly resembling US facilities in Diego Garcia and Guam.
He called on US lawmakers to approve the installation on Guam of an Aegis Ashore anti-missile battery, which is capable of intercepting the most powerful Chinese missiles in flight.
Guam “needs to be defended and it needs to be prepared for the threats that will come in the future,” Davidson said.
In addition to other Aegis missile defense systems destined for Australia and Japan, Davidson called on lawmakers to budget for offensive armaments “to let China know that the costs of what they seek to do are too high.”
Beijing was swift to bat away the admiral’s comments.
“Some US people continue to use the Taiwan issue to hype up China’s military threat,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) told reporters in Beijing. “But in essence, this is the US searching for a pretext to increase its military spending, expand its forces and interfere in regional affairs.”
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS