China’s military exercises around Taiwan have become so extensive they could be used as a “fig leaf” to mask an invasion, the Financial Times quoted the top US commander in the Indo-Pacific region as saying.
Speaking at the Honolulu Defense Forum on Thursday, US Navy Admiral Samuel Paparo sounded the alarm over the rising alliance of China, Russia and North Korea, calling it an “emerging axis of autocracy.”
The trio have formed a “triangle of troublemakers,” he told the Pacific Forum-sponsored event.
Photo: AFP
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) surge of activities around Taiwan in the past few years had made it difficult to distinguish a large-scale exercise and preparations for an invasion, Paparo was quoted as saying.
“We’re very close to that [point] where on a daily basis the fig leaf of an exercise could very well hide operational warning,” he said. “Their aggressive maneuvers around Taiwan right now are not exercises as they call them, they are rehearsals. They are rehearsals for the forced unification of Taiwan to the mainland.”
US intelligence indicates that China, Russia and North Korea’s cooperation has extended to coordinating “everything from bomber patrols that penetrate American ADIZ [air defense identification zones] to shared anti-satellite capabilities and advanced submarine technologies from the seabed to the heavens,” the paper quoted Paparo as saying.
Expressing concern over the rise in PLA activity, Paparo said that the US must move quickly to close capability gaps, including the quantity of stockpiled arms that could be used in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Our magazines run low. Our maintenance backlogs grow longer each month... We operate on increasingly thin margins for error,” he was quoted as saying. “Our opponents see these gaps, and they are moving aggressively to exploit them.”
Paparo, who recently hosted a summit on artificial intelligence (AI), said the US should move quickly to obtain and deploy more types of uncrewed weapons systems, as AI could be a “key tool” to help the US detect early signs of a pending attack on Taiwan.
The commander called for urgent reforms at the Pentagon’s procurement system, saying: “Technology alone is not going to win this fight.”
“Procurement at the speed of combat, not at the speed of committees,” he added.
In related news, the Japanese Ministry of Defense told Nikkei that the PLA Navy last year sailed 68 times into Japan’s southwestern seas, three times the frequency of regional Chinese military activity from 2021.
Speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference, Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani said that the number included all ship movements Tokyo had positively identified as Chinese military.
Last year also marked the first time Chinese military aircraft entered Japanese airspace and the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning’s (遼寧) first-ever navigation near the boundary of Japanese territorial waters, he said.
These incidents were highly concerning and posed an unprecedentedly severe strategic challenge to the rules-based international order, he said.
Japan would conduct surveillance and take other necessary measures in the sea and air surrounding Japan to ensure nothing can go awry and respond to incidents with calm determination, he was cited as saying.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘UNFRIENDLY’: Changing the nationality listing of Taiwanese residents to ‘China’ goes against EU foreign policy as well as democratic and human rights principles, MOFA said Taiwan yesterday called on Denmark to correct its designation of the nationality of Taiwanese residents as “China” or face retaliatory measures. The Danish government in 2024 changed the nationality of Taiwanese citizens on their residence permits from “Taiwan” to “China.” The decision goes against EU foreign policy and contravenes democratic and human rights principles, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said. Denmark should present a solution acceptable to Taiwan as soon as possible and correct the erroneous designation to preserve the longstanding friendship between the two nations, Hsiao said. The issue could damage Denmark’s image and business reputation in Taiwan,
KEY INDUSTRY: The vice premier discussed a plan to create a non-red drone supply chain by next year, which has been allocated a budget of more than NT$7.2 billion The government has budgeted NT$44.2 billion (US$1.38 billion) to cultivate Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) industry over the next five years, which would make the nation a major player in the industry’s democratic supply chain in the Asia-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Cho made the remarks during a visit to the facilities of Cub Elecparts Inc (為升電裝). Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Su-yueh (陳素月) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Yi-fong (謝依鳳) also participated in the trip. Cub Elecparts has transitioned from the automotive industry to the defense industry, which is the top priority among the nation’s
SUFFICIENT: The president said Taiwan has enough oil for next month, with reserves covering more than 100 days and natural gas enough for 12 to 14 days A restart plan for the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) and the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春) would be submitted to the Nuclear Safety Commission by the end of the month, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, reversing the government’s policy to abolish nuclear energy. On May 17 last year, Taiwan shut down its last nuclear reactor and became the first non-nuclear nation in East Asia, fulfilling the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s pledge of a “nuclear-free homeland.” Even without nuclear power, Taiwan can maintain a stable electricity supply until 2032,
DEROGATORY: WTO host Cameroon’s designation of Taiwan as a ‘province of China’ seriously undermines the nation’s status and rights as a WTO member, MOFA said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned Cameroon for listing Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China” in visa documents for an upcoming WTO ministerial conference, a move that led to Taiwan’s withdrawal from the event. The designation “seriously undermined” Taiwan’s status and rights as a WTO member, the ministry said in a statement. It is the first time since 2001 that Taiwan has declined to attend a WTO Ministerial Conference. The conference is scheduled to take place from Thursday to Sunday next week in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. Taiwan had planned to send a delegation led by Minister Without Portfolio
RSS