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 SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
RSS