The best way to deter China is to show strength, former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien said at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Asked about an assessment that China might invade Taiwan by 2027, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken concurred with on Wednesday, O’Brien said that the view is consistent with that of many experts on cross-strait issues.
“We have to take them [Chinese officials] seriously at their words” and be prepared, he said.
Photo: CNA
“We need to do everything to deter the dictators from taking that course of action,” he added.
The US and Taiwan want peace with China, “but we can’t be expected to sacrifice our freedoms, our way of life, our principles to appease the Chinese,” the chairman of Global Taiwan Institute’s US-Taiwan Task Force said.
He said that “more needs to be done” to deter China, calling on the US to deliver an approved package of US$20 billion of arms to Taiwan “as soon as possible.”
US military supplies to Ukraine and Taiwan “can’t be an ‘either-or’ situation,” so the US must increase the capacity of its defense industry, he said.
Apart from extending mandatory military service to one year, which is a “major step” in self-defense, Taiwan can strengthen its aircraft hangars and bunkers on the west coast while bolstering the resilience of its air force, he said.
Eastern and central European countries can serve as examples for Taiwan, as they are preparing their citizens to defend their homes through training provided by community organizations, he said.
Teaching millions of Taiwanese to use the same ammunition as possible invaders can deter Beijing more effectively, he added.
Asked about China’s possible reaction should President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) meet with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the US next month — a plan US Representative Mike Gallagher said on Thursday would happen — O’Brien said the meeting is “nothing out of the ordinary.”
China’s attempts to make a consequential issue out of the meeting and change the “status quo” are “not useful,” he said, adding that Beijing has no veto over which politicians US officials can meet.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to