The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday.
The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region.
“The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech.
Photo: Reuters
“That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he added.
China’s unlawful claims in the South China Sea are symptomatic of its broader ambition to establish hegemony over the region, Koehler said.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has ramped up deployments and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, while also conducting exercises simulating an invasion and blockade of Taiwan along the first island chain, he said.
Beijing’s designs extend to Southeast Asian states beyond the first island chain, using increasingly aggressive tactics to “coerce and harass them in their own waters,” he added.
The PLA and the China Coast Guard have employed water cannons, ship-to-ship collisions and lasers, even attacking the crew of a Philippine Navy supply ship with knives and axes last year, Koehler said.
The US Navy and the US Department of Defense regard the Indo-Pacific as “the priority theater,” a stance reflected in the Pacific Fleet’s strength, numbering 200 ships and submarines, 1,300 aircraft, and one-third of its forces deployed at any given time, he said.
Two aircraft carrier strike groups are active in the region: one centered on the USS Nimitz, operating in and around the South China Sea over the past months, and another centered on the USS George Washington, patrolling the western Pacific, the admiral said.
Also speaking at the conference, Japan Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Tetsuo Kotani said Tokyo is developing the “Japan Single Operational Area” strategic concept to strengthen regional defense coordination.
The concept envisions the East China Sea, South China Sea, Korean Peninsula and surrounding waters as a unified theater of military operations in which Japan and its allies act jointly, Kotani said.
However, Indo-Pacific nations would face significant challenges in maintaining peace and stability within this framework if Taiwan remains excluded from regional security arrangements, he said.
The various governments’ continued adherence to Beijing’s “one China” principle makes including Taiwan a difficult proposition, he said.
However, Taiwan should still be allowed to participate as an observer in joint military exercises such as the US-Philippine Exercise Balikatan, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) and other multilateral drills, he added.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
‘REALLY PROUD’: Nvidia would not be possible without Taiwan, Huang said, adding that TSMC would be increasing its capacity by 100 percent Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday praised and lightly cajoled his major Taiwanese suppliers to produce more to help power strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI), capping a visit to the country of his birth, where he has been mobbed by adoring fans at every step. Speaking at an impromptu press conference in the rain outside a Taipei restaurant, where he had hosted suppliers for a “trillion-dollar dinner,” named after the market capitalization of those firms attending, Huang said this would be another good year for business. “TSMC needs to work very hard this year because I need a lot
RSS