The US has begun taking concrete naval action to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, bolstering joint defense in the Indo-Pacific region, Institute for National Defense and Security Research research fellow Su Tzu-yu (蘇紫雲) said on Saturday.
Su made the comment in response to US Admiral Stephen Koehler’s statement that the US Pacific Fleet’s mission to deter aggression in the South China Sea encompasses Taiwan.
Koehler, the commander of the fleet, was speaking at the 15th annual Center for Strategic and International Studies’ South China Sea Conference in Hawaii on Tuesday last week.
Photo: Reuters
The US Department of Defense in March said that deterring Chinese aggression against Taiwan was a top priority, Su said.
Koehler’s statement signifies that the US has advanced from policy and strategy to combat planning, establishing concrete military directives, he said.
US forces stationed in South Korea have indicated they would intervene in the event of a situation in the Taiwan Strait, further confirming that Taiwan is a part of the US’ military mission, he added.
This is a series of coordinated measures to gradually deter aggression and assist in the defense of Taiwan, Su said.
Although US President Donald Trump is outwardly friendly to the leaders of China, Russia and North Korea, he relies on the US Department of Defense and the US Department of State to bolster Washington’s commitment to defending Taiwan, he said, adding that it showed that US strategy has shifted toward concrete deterrence.
The US’ actions also align with Japan’s “single theater” concept, which views the four major conflict points in East Asia as one major challenge to encourage allied nations to respond together, Su said.
Taiwan is central to this concept, because its fall into the hands of China would be a fatal breach in the entire defense of the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
“Taiwan is too important,” not just due to Taiwan Semiconducting Manufacturing Co (台積電) and democratic values, but because of its strategic location, he added.
More than 50 percent of global shipping passes close to Taiwan, so a disruption would affect global balance, Su said.
This is why British and Japanese military vessels have passed through the Taiwan Strait three times recently, showing their support for Taiwan, he said.
Reacting to British patrol ships and Koehler’s statement, China has deployed more than 70 military aircraft to the Taiwan Strait, displaying anger at other countries protecting Taiwan, Su said.
The British navy’s HMS Prince of Wales would arrive in the Indo-Pacific region at the end of this month and might pass through the Taiwan Strait to defend the right to freedom of navigation, he said.
Taiwan should make its tracking of Chinese warships public, as China’s Shandong and Liaoning aircraft carriers have been active in the East China Sea and Western Pacific recently, Su said.
This would increase public confidence by making national defense more transparent, and help allied nations work together to deter Chinese aggression, he added.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS