US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley has said people need to “lower the rhetoric” about a war with China, as the US is not on the brink of a conflict with Beijing, but the discussion is becoming “overheated.”
Milley made the remarks during an interview with Defense One published on Friday.
He said he has doubts about China’s chances of “conquering” Taiwan, but added that “the United States should continue to quicken arms shipments to the self-governing nation and its own military capabilities, just in case.”
Photo: AP
Milley said a war with China would be possible if there is an incident or a trigger event that leads to uncontrolled escalation, although he at this point does not think that it is likely.
However, he said that “the rhetoric itself can overheat the environment.”
He said he agrees with calls for the US to send arms to Taiwan as quickly as possible, because Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) wants the Chinese People’s Liberation Army armed and capable of taking Taiwan by force by 2027, which is only four years away.
The US has three to four years to get Taiwan in a position where Chinese decisionmakers would believe that the costs of attacking Taiwan exceed the benefits, he said, adding that Taiwan needs air defenses, anti-ship cruise missiles and anti-ship mines.
Milley said Taiwan’s 170,000 active-duty military personnel and about 1 million to 2 million reserves, coupled with China’s lack of experience, make a takeover unlikely.
“It would be a very difficult island to capture,” Defense One quoted Milley as saying.
Milley also said that fears of a China-Russia alliance are also premature, but the US should take a geostrategic approach that does not drive the two nations into each other’s arms to form an actual military alliance.
“I think it’s incumbent upon us, the United States, to make sure that we have an incredibly powerful military that is capable,” that China knows it and that China believes the US will use it if necessary, he said.
Milley said he prefers to back a proverb used by former US president Theodore Roosevelt: “Speak softly and carry a big stick — you will go far.”
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