Fri, Apr 02, 2004 page3

• Congress hears US forces ready for Chinese threat

  • By Charles Snyder / STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
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  The top US naval commander in the Pacific has told Congress that US forces are well-positioned to deal with any Chinese military activity aimed at Taiwan, but says that the US has not seen any indication of an immediate military threat in the period surrounding Taiwan's presidential election.

  Admiral Thomas Fargo, the Navy Commander of the US Pacific Command, made his comments in testimony on Wednesday before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on defense budget issues and US security concerns in the Pacific region.

  Asked about US forces' ability to deal with a miscalculation that could be "catastrophic" for Taiwan, Fargo said, "I'm pretty confident of our deterrent capability. Certainly, we're well-postured right now. We understand the problem. Our forces are well-trained. So our ability to dissuade and deter China, I think, is really very good."

  He also noted that "we maintain a force posture and readiness and an ability to respond to contingencies that will ensure that should the president ask us, we can meet those responsibilities under the [Taiwan Relations Act]."

  This act, enacted 25 years ago today, commits the US among other things to "maintain the capacity ... to resist any resort to force of other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security ... of the people of Taiwan."

  Fargo said that the Taiwan Strait is "a place where miscalculation could result in terrible destruction and poses a possibility of expanding into a wider regional confrontation," calling cross-strait issues "the largest friction point in the relationship between China and the United States."

  He said his forces continue to watch closely the developments associated with the March 20 election.

  "To date, we've seen no indication of an imminent military crisis," he said.

  Fargo was asked whether Taiwan's desire for "increased autonomy and eventual independence" could spark a military confrontation between Washington and Beijing.

  He refused to speculate on Taiwan's actions, but said "the most important thing is that we have to meet our responsibilities with respect to the Taiwan Relations Act as well as provide good advice to Taiwan as to how they improve their capability to defend themselves. And we're certainly doing that."

  Committee chairman Duncan Hunter, a Republican, made Taiwan a central issue in the hearing, with an opening statement pointing to the March 20 election.

  "The situation across the Taiwan Strait deserves our special attention because it's long been recognized as an international flashpoint," he said.

  "The balance of power is changing across the Taiwan Strait" with China's continued military modernization, he said.

  "Taiwan, on the other hand, continued cutting its defense budget," he said.

  "These diverging military trends highlight a political problem in which China constantly seeks to strangle more assertive demonstrations of Taiwanese democracy lest the people of Taiwan decide that they don't want to surrender their rights in order to become part of greater China.

  "Those trends are accelerating, undermining the fragile standoff that has secured peace across the Strait for most of the last 50 years," he said.
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