The Chinese navy has the ability to blockade Taiwan, but doing so could prompt a coordinated response by the international community to intervene to resolve the crisis for Taiwan, US Vice Admiral Karl Thomas said.
“Clearly if they do something that’s non-kinetic, which, you know, a blockade is less kinetic ... then that allows the international community to weigh in and to work together on how we’re going to solve that challenge,” the commander of the US Navy’s 7th Fleet told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Monday.
While he could not predict whether China would launch a full-scale attack on Taiwan or blockade the nation, it was his job to be ready for all eventualities, he said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Following a visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei on Aug. 2 and 3, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched live-fire military exercises in six maritime zones around Taiwan, firing 11 ballistic missiles into waters surrounding the nation.
The “irresponsible” act showed that China was pushing the boundaries further to “see what they can get away with,” Thomas said.
Following the exercises, China has made dozens of incursions near Taiwan during which PLA aircraft or ships crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which had served as a tacit boundary before last month’s military exercises.
China’s latest actions are an extension of its “might makes right” mentality, Thomas said.
Asked why the plane carrying Pelosi avoided the South China Sea and followed a circuitous path to Taiwan, Thomas said that it was done to avoid provoking China, which has militarized artificial islands in the region.
The decision was made “at high levels” amid warnings from Beijing that a visit by Pelosi could have consequences, he added.
China, which has the world’s largest navy by size, is building warships at a faster rate than the US, although the US Navy, with more advanced warships and a larger aircraft carrier fleet, still has a qualitative edge, Thomas said.
The PLA has also been addressing a lack of coordination between its different branches, which had been seen as weaknesses, he said, adding that aircraft from China’s air force now fly above bodies of water, while in 2018 only aircraft from its navy conducted such flights.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS