China winning control of Taiwan would be “disastrous for the US,” while Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and the Chinese Communist Party “are not being held sufficiently accountable for their actions,” Air & Space Forces Magazine cited an unclassified US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) report as saying.
The ONI brief, released under the signature of ONI Commander Rear Admiral Mike Studeman, reportedly says that the US and China “are engaged in an international struggle between competing visions.”
“China is executing a grand strategy, and has been unified in pursuing it comprehensively and aggressively for many years,” the magazine last week cited the brief as saying, adding that Beijing seeks to become a regional then global hegemon, “wresting influence away from the US, and imposing a new world order that favors Beijing.”
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Calling Xi the “most dangerous leader since Mao [Zedong, 毛澤東] in terms of willingness to use creeping expansionism and force to resolve territorial issues at his neighbors’ expense,” the brief reportedly says that China’s military has become “a formidable, highly lethal fighting force” that is “very much a peer” of the US military.
“The US cannot afford an ‘anemic information instrument’ and must challenge China’s narrative about its peaceful rise and intentions,” the magazine said, citing the brief. “Not speaking out ‘makes the [US] more vulnerable.’”
“The survival of Taiwan’s democracy is a critical geostrategic issue that carries long-term consequences for China, the US, and the broader international community,” the ONI document reportedly says.
Air & Space Forces cited the brief as saying that Beijing winning control of Taiwan “would be disastrous for the US even if China did not use military force.”
Taking Taiwan “would give Xi ‘extraordinary new legitimacy’ both domestically and internationally,” and “signal an ‘ideological win over democracy, freedom and the West,’” the magazine said.
In annexing Taiwan, Beijing would absorb a significant economy, while growing its military power and gaining “greater reach into the Pacific domination of China’s near-abroad sea lanes and chokepoints,” it said.
It would also give Beijing control over critical technology in Taiwan, such as semiconductors as well as US weapon systems, including fighter jets and air defenses, the magazine said.
Possessing Taiwan would also give China considerably more influence with more countries, while the US’ credibility would “sharply decline,” with regional allies and partners reassessing their relationship with Washington, it said.
Ultimately, “it would be much harder for the US to ‘forestall further erosion of international norms [and the] rules-based order,’” while creating “a perception of ‘US decline,’” Air & Space Forces cited the brief as saying, adding: “There would be no Chinese-speaking democracy in Asia.”
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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