Taiwan and the US are improving resilience and innovating operational concepts to maintain the capability to deter Beijing from attacking across the Taiwan Strait, a senior US defense official said on Wednesday.
Keeping Taiwan-US deterrence capabilities strong through improving bilateral cooperation has been a constant task for the US government, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
A war in the Taiwan Strait is not imminent or inevitable, he said, citing US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Photo: screen grab from the American Enterprise Institute’s YouTube channel
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has made strides in developing a new concept of operations needed to overcome the unique operational challenges posed by the western Pacific region, Ratner said.
The US military is enhancing the dispersion, mobility, resilience and lethality of its forces in the region to deter China from acts of aggression, he said.
The global implications of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are underscored in private and public diplomatic interactions almost every day, he said, adding that more countries are emphasizing to the US the importance of this.
Taiwan can significantly boost deterrence by improving the resilience of its armed forces and society, Ratner said.
Efforts by the Taiwanese armed forces to enhance deterrence via refining operational planning, developing capabilities and conducting exercises have been heartening to the US, he said, adding that developments are positive across the board.
The consistent policy of the US is to maintain the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and oppose any unilateral attempts to change it, he said.
Ratner is a frequent contributor to the American Enterprise Institute and a policy veteran at the US Department of Defense.
Separately, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink told the event that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to emphasize Washington’s concern with Beijing’s escalating use of coercion against Taiwan.
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
RSS