The US Senate yesterday confirmed Elbridge Colby as US undersecretary of defense for policy, a defense strategist who last year said that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would "plausibly and gravely" threaten the US.
Colby's nomination was approved in a 54-45 vote, with former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell being the only majority party lawmaker to vote against it.
Photo: Bloomberg
Three Democratic senators supported his confirmation.
Last month, Colby told the Armed Services Committee that "Taiwan's fall would be a disaster for American interests," referring to a potential invasion by the People's Republic of China.
The former deputy assistant of defense for strategy and force development during US President Donald Trump's first term also expressed his view that Taiwan's defense spending was too low to adequately address the threat posed by China.
"I think actually as a proportion of GDP, it's well below 3 percent," Colby said on March 4. "I agree with President Trump that they should be more like 10 percent or at least something in that ballpark really focused on their defense."
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on March 12 responded that the government did "not have the capacity" to spend 10 percent of the country's GDP annually on national defense.
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