The US Navy is ready to come to Taiwan’s aid if it is ordered to do so, US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo told a US television news program in a segment about the state of the navy in the face of China’s rapid military expansion.
“It’s a decision of the president of the United States and a decision of the Congress,” he told 60 Minutes reporter Norah O’Donnell in the 27-minute segment that aired on CBS on Sunday.
“But the bulk of the United States Navy will be deployed rapidly to the Western Pacific to come to the aid of Taiwan if the order comes to aid Taiwan in thwarting [a Chinese] invasion,” he said.
Photo: Screen grab from CBS “60 Minutes”
The navy is ready, but “I’ll never admit to being ready enough,” he added.
The interview took place last month on the aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz deployed near Guam.
The US Pacific Fleet accounts for about 60 percent of the entire US Navy.
One-third of the US Navy is deployed at all times, meaning there are about 100 of 300 ships at sea, Paparo said.
Nevertheless, its fleet is already outnumbered by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, whose ships have increased to about 350 from only 37 in the early 2000s, he said.
“We call it the ‘Decade of Concern,’” he said. “We’ve seen a 10-fold increase in the size of the [PLA] Navy.”
However, the PLA is still working to catch up in terms of powerful aircraft carriers, with only two diesel-fueled versions in operation compared with the US’ 11 nuclear-powered vessels, the report said.
Asked if the numbers matter, Paparo said that “quantity has a quality all its own.”
“I’m not comfortable with the trajectory,” he added.
US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday disagreed that the US Navy is being outpaced by China, saying it is still in a position to prevail.
“But that’s not blind confidence,” he told O’Donnell. “We are concerned with the trajectory that China’s on, with China’s behavior, but we are in a good position right now.”
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be