US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino on Tuesday said Washington must be ready to “fight and win” if it fails to deter China from taking military action against Taiwan.
Speaking during a US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee hearing, Aquilino declined to put a date on a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, saying that “for me, it doesn’t matter what the timeline is.”
“I’m responsible [for finding a way] to prevent this conflict today and — if deterrence were to fail — to be able to fight and win,” Aquilino said.
Photo: AP
Aquilino’s assessment that other top military commanders were “guessing” regarding the date contrasted with his predecessor, Admiral Philip Davidson, who suggested in 2021 that China could invade Taiwan within the next six to 10 years.
“There’s a ton of variables on what might motivate [Chinese] President Xi Jinping (習近平) to take that action,” Aquilino said. “It’s our job to convince him every day [that] it would be a bad choice.”
Aquilino added that estimates of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan were based on an order directing the Chinese military to develop the requisite military capability by 2027.
Asked if he believed the threat of a Chinese invasion had grown over the past few years, Aquilino said: “The trends for the threat are in a wrong direction... There’s no doubt about that.”
Aquilino said that the Pentagon and the US defense industry needed to move more quickly to reduce the odds of a conflict.
However, US military forces in the region are fully prepared for any scenario, Aquilino added.
In his opening comments, US Representative Mike Rogers, the committee chairman, expressed concern about Xi’s ambitions in the region.
Over the past decade, Beijing has tripled its military budget and is aggressively pursuing military modernization and expansion, Rogers said.
The military buildup is concerning, “but what’s most alarming is the increasingly provocative actions President Xi has taken in recent years,” he added, referencing military exercises around Taiwan and intimidation of US lawmakers for supporting Taiwanese democracy, among other examples.
“This is not how responsible nations act,” he said. “We have no choice but to take Xi’s threats seriously and we have to be resolute in our response.”
The US needs to work with its regional partners, as well as accelerate the provision of weapons and training to Taiwan so that it can defend its democracy, he said.
“But most importantly, we need to take action now,” he added. “China is not going to give us 10 or 20 years to prepare for conflict. We simply cannot procrastinate further.”
US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Jedidiah Royal in his opening remarks emphasized the US Department of Defense’s position that China is its “pacing challenge.”
The department is “doing more than ever to strengthen deterrence and to ensure we can prevail in conflict if necessary,” he said.
Deterrence in the region is strong, because the US remains the most capable fighting force in the world and is working with other regional powers — including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, India, Australia, the UK and Taiwan — to bolster capabilities, he added.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the