Randall Schriver, former US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, on Wednesday said that the US should “strengthen” training of Taiwan’s armed forces to help boost their combat readiness.
Schriver, now chairman of the board of the US think tank Project 2049 Institute, made the remarks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing as a witness when he was asked by US Senator Dave McCormick about his views on the US government’s efforts to deter a war in the Taiwan Strait.
Schriver said it has been an evolutionary process, in which the US has become more direct in language and rhetoric on the issue.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In addition, the US has been moving into areas that were previously too sensitive, such as the training of Taiwanese military forces, he said, adding that the US should enhance its initiatives in those areas.
“We need to strengthen our training of Taiwan military forces,” Schriver said. “That was a taboo for decades, and now we’re getting them to a point where they’re more professional, more proficient, as they’re placing a greater emphasis on training.”
As part of the cross-strait war deterrence strategy, the US should also encourage Taiwan to look at more modernized command and control that would help optimize battlefield decisions, given the changing nature of warfare, he said, adding that “they need to look at a lot more unmanned, autonomous and in every domain, including underwater.”
Schriver, who served as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office, also said that the US needs to help develop the Philippines, particularly Northern Luzon, given its proximity to the Taiwan Strait.
The US military has been helping to train Taiwan’s military forces for decades, but has been doing so discreetly due to the sensitive nature of such actions.
In March last year, then-minister of national defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) confirmed that US military personnel were being rotated to provide training to the armed forces in Taiwan, including conscripts, and Taiwanese soldiers were also receiving training in the US.
He did not give any specifics for security reasons.
Wednesday’s hearing in the US Senate was titled “Shared Threats: Indo-Pacific Alliances and Burden Sharing in Today’s Geopolitical Environment.”
Before the hearing began, US Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said China’s rising aggression in the Indo-Pacific region should be confronted, “but America should not be the world’s only watchdog.”
“To counter Chinese aggression, we need our allies to work with us to ensure each of us is strong and capable of pushing back,” he said, calling for allies to “expand US basing and overflight access” around the Indo-Pacific region.
“The best way to show China that we stand together is if we are physically present in the region,” Risch said.
Risch also said that Taiwan must continue to increase its defense spending.
However, Schriver said that people should not become focused on accounts and numbers.
While Taiwan’s defense spending only comprises 2.5 percent of its GDP, its investment in resilience of power, communications and civil defense has not been considered, he said, adding that Taiwan should be recognized for these efforts.
Citing the Philippines, Schriver said that while the nation only spent 1.5 percent of its GDP on national defense, it has allowed the US to establish bases and strategic facilities under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
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