US President Donald Trump’s national security advisor Robert O’Brien on Wednesday warned China against any attempts to take over Taiwan by force, arguing that amphibious landings are “notoriously difficult” and that there is a lot of ambiguity about how the United States (US) would respond in such a situation.
Speaking at an event at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Mr. O’Brien said that China was engaging in a massive naval build-up, at a scale comparable to Germany’s efforts to compete with the British Royal Navy before the First World War. He said that it gave China the ability to push the US and its allies out of the Western Pacific, and allow it to engage in an amphibious landing in Taiwan. However, O’Brien pointed to the challenges of such an endeavor, adding that China should also consider the US’ response in such a scenario, referring to America’s long-standing policy of strategic ambiguity on the question of whether it would militarily intervene to protect Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion.
The Taiwan Relations Act, which forms the basis for Washington’s relationship with Taipei, requires the US to provide the island with the means to defend itself, and Donald Trump has authorized more than $600 million in arms sales to Taiwan in this year alone. The legislation does not require the US to physically defend Taiwan if China attacks, but it also doesn’t rule it out, in an effort to establish a deterrent to a Beijing offensive against Taipei.
Following China’s imposition of the draconian national security law in Hong Kong, the future of Taiwan has been a matter of great concern in the international community, with China stepping up its military maneuvers near Taiwan’s waters and incursions into the latter’s airspace. Though Taiwan has proposed an increased defense budget to counter military threats from China, US officials have stressed that the funding needs to be significantly higher to effectively confront China.
Mr. O’Brien stressed on this issue on Wednesday as well, saying that the only way Taiwan would be able to effectively deter China, is if they “turn[ed] themselves into a porcupine” militarily, which wouldn’t be achievable until Taiwan spent more than its current ~1.2% of GDP on defense. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry responded to these remarks, telling Reuters that they will “strive for an adequate budget” in accordance with their needs to build a solid national defense force.
US Warns China Against Attacking Taiwan, Cites Its Strategic Ambiguity
US national security advisor Robert O'Brien said that there was a lot of ambiguity about how the US would respond if China invaded the self-governed island, which it claims a part of its territory.
October 9, 2020
US national security advisor Robert O’Brien. SOURCE: NBC NEWS