Following a warning the previous day before the Senate Armed Services Committee that China could invade Taiwan within six years, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral Davidson re-emphasized Wednesday (March 10) that Taiwan will be the “number one” target of Chinese military action in the next five to 10 years. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Air Force has increased its flight hours by 1,000 hours in the past year to strengthen its response to incursions by Chinese military aircraft into Taiwan’s airspace, according to Taiwanese military data.
At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on U.S. national security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, Navy Adm. Philip Davidson (D-Mass.) repeated his warning that China could use force against Taiwan. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), a Tennessee Republican, asked, “What do you see as the likely primary target of Chinese aggression or military action over the next five to 10 years?” Davidson responded with these remarks.
Davidson said that based on China’s public and long-standing rhetoric, “especially during President Xi Jinping‘s term, I would say Taiwan is the first (target).”
Referring to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s warning a few days ago to the U.S. to “not play with fire,” White House spokeswoman Sachs then responded that “the U.S. commitment to Taiwan is rock solid,” DeGales asked Davidson how he assessed China’s relationship with Taiwan during his more than three years at Indo-Pacific Command. Taiwan’s relationship.
Davidson said China’s abolition of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong has put Taiwan on high alert, so much so that both parties in Taiwan will have to emphasize their position of not supporting “one country, two systems” during the campaign in late 2019.
“I think that makes Taiwan’s position in the region even stronger, and all the other countries in the region have noticed China’s very destructive approach to Hong Kong, and that has caused a lot of relationships to cool.”
Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) opened the hearing’s question-and-answer session with his first question, asking Davidson how the United States would guard against a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Davidson said the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), Section 1251 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, is an important initiative to strengthen U.S. combat capabilities and deter Chinese military operations in the Indo-Pacific region.
He said that under the legislation, the U.S. would enhance its capabilities to deter possible Chinese actions with five pillars, including strengthening the defense of Guam and the lethality of U.S. joint warfare, strengthening the defense of the first and second island chains, strengthening arms sales to allies to enhance joint warfare capabilities, and enhancing innovation in exercise capabilities.
The U.S. will work with its allies on these major fronts to increase military deterrence against China, with the goal of making Chinese military decision makers understand that the cost of forceful action is too high.
The recent increase in Chinese military pressure on Taiwan is a matter of great concern to many members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. At a Senate hearing the previous day, including Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), all asked Davidson about how the United States could assist Taiwan in strengthening its defense capabilities against Chinese aggression.
In response to Senator Sullivan’s question about a possible “timeline” for Chinese military action in the Taiwan Strait, Davidson said that Taiwan is at the top of the list of all China’s regional ambitions and that “the threat is clearly going to happen within this decade, in fact, within the next six years. “
Senator Blackburn expressed concern about how the U.S. could increase bilateral exercises with Taiwan or multilateral exercises with other countries in the region, as well as how to assist Taiwan’s military professional development. Davidson said the U.S. has opportunities to help Taiwan further develop its military profession, and that there are a number of topics on which the U.S. could assist Taiwan in enhancing its defense capabilities, such as how to make its reserve forces more responsive.
As for the military exercise component, Davidson said Indo-Pacific Command provides annual support for Taiwan’s major Han Kwang exercises, including “assisting in providing observers to understand how Taiwan thinks about their defense, what their exercises include, and how these exercises help to enhance Taiwan’s defense concept, while also deepening our relationship. “
Davidson also said in response to Senator Scott’s question about his proposed Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act, which is intended to prevent China from using force against Taiwan, that the U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity has maintained the current status quo in the dynamic environment of the Taiwan Strait for 40 years, and that he believes the U.S. should regularly review its policy, that the U.S. has an obligation to comply with the Taiwan Relations Act, and that arms sales to Taiwan should continue.
In response to Davidson’s warning that China will invade Taiwan “within six years,” the Chinese government believes it is “playing up” the Chinese military threat.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on Wednesday that some people on the U.S. side “keep using the Taiwan issue to play up the ‘Chinese military threat,’ which is essentially a pretext for the U.S. to increase its own military spending, expand its military power and interfere in regional affairs.”
China’s increased encroachment into Taiwan’s surrounding airspace has also increased Taiwan’s response costs. A Taiwan military report said the Taiwan Air Force added 1,000 hours of flight Time last year in response to the challenge of Chinese PLA encroachment into Taiwan’s airspace.
In a report submitted Wednesday to the Legislative Yuan’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said that from January to November 2020, the Taiwan Air Force flew a total of 45,500 hours, including 11,800 mission hours and 33,700 training hours, an increase of 1,000 training flight hours compared with an average of 32,700 flight hours from 2017 to 2019, an increase of of about 3 percent.
In addition to the increase in flight hours, the report also said that the Chinese PLA began increasing incursions into Taiwan’s airspace last September, 97 percent of which occurred in Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone. Because of the additional maintenance and fuel costs associated with responding to such incursions, the military began adjusting its response to common-aircraft harassment in October last year, so that if the PLA encroached with slow-speed aircraft, the Air Force would instead use C-130 transport aircraft or P-3C If the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) uses slow-moving aircraft, the Air Force will respond with C-130 transport aircraft or P-3C anti-submarine aircraft.
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