The PLA has recently crossed the centerline of the Taiwan Strait several times, causing tensions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and raising concerns about whether China will take further military action to undermine the military balance between the two sides of the Strait. In response, congressional Republicans have said that “it is time for the United States to make a concrete commitment to defend Taiwan” in order to ensure security in the Taiwan Strait.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a Republican federal senator from Arkansas, said Wednesday (Oct. 7) that he believes the biggest concern of Communist Party Central Military Commission Chairman Xi Jinping about forcibly violating Taiwan is the chance of success in doing so, and that the biggest consideration is the U.S. response to a cross-Strait military conflict.
“I think we should support Taiwan in two ways. First, we have to continue what President Trump has begun to do, which is to expand arms sales (to Taiwan) with a very specific and direct focus on a single goal, which is to prolong Taiwan’s self-defense,” Cotton said Wednesday in response to a question from moderator Mead (D-Calif.) at a video chat hosted by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. (Walter Russell Mead) said in response to a question.
Cotton went on to go on to say, “The second thing we need to do, I think it’s time to make a commitment to the defense of Taiwan that is clear and unambiguous.”
Citing a recent article by Richard Haas, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a scholar of international relations, Cotton said that the United States must change its policy of strategic ambiguity on cross-strait issues, which has been in place since the 1970s.
Cotton said, “The primary factor that creates uncertainty in Beijing or causes them to act with restraint is the fear that the United States might make a clear statement of policy that we will assist Taiwan in maintaining its territorial integrity, and that would create uncertainty in Beijing and cause them to act with restraint.”
“This would not require a change in the ‘Taiwan Relations Act,’ it would not require a change in our perception of the so-called ‘one-China policy,’ and it would not require a change in any of our existing diplomatic relations,” said Cotton.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), also a Republican and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also said last month that China’s military actions on Taiwan had made him concerned about a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait, which today, like Berlin during the old Cold War, has become the center of global geopolitical competition, and that he believes the U.S. The past policy of strategic ambiguity is no longer useful, and Washington should adopt a “strategic certainty” posture to make it clear to Beijing that it has “absolutely no opportunity” to launch an attack on Taiwan without inviting a U.S. response.
In a speech at the Heritage Foundation last month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific David Stark announced the declassification of the “six assurances” and the arms sales cable to Taiwan, and compared the U.S. “one-China policy” to China’s “one-China principle. “It makes a clear distinction. It is also seen as a clearer signal of “strategic certainty” to Beijing.
China’s military aircraft disturbance frequency increases, U.S. senator: Beijing senses growing distance to Taiwan reunification
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has conducted frequent military operations over the Taiwan Strait and in the sea in recent months. Taiwan Defense Minister Yan De-Fa said in a report to the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday that since the beginning of this year, the PLA has 1,710 sorties of military aircraft and 1,029 warships that have invaded Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), including 217 sorties of military aircraft that have invaded Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ, and 49 sorties of military aircraft that have flown over the centerline of the Taiwan Strait, the most frequent on record since 1990.
Yan De-Fa pointed out that so far this year there have been 49 PLA sorties that crossed the centerline of the Taiwan Strait, and the Taiwan military responded by flying 76 sorties in response. The number of Chinese warplanes crossing the strait’s centerline is the highest in 30 years.
At the same time, Yan De-Fa added that so far this year, in response to Chinese military operations, Taiwan has launched 2,972 sorties for reconnaissance and intercept missions, at a cost of about $850 million (NT$25.5 billion).
Senator Cotton argued that Beijing’s increasing military operations in the Taiwan Strait in an attempt to upset the military balance seems to indicate that Beijing recognizes that the overall situation is not favorable to its plans to reunify Taiwan.
“Perhaps they sense that the chances of reunifying Taiwan are getting slimmer and slimmer, especially given the hardening of perceptions of Beijing around the world, especially given what Taiwan has seen in Hong Kong over the past six years, and the increasing self-identification of the Taiwanese, all of which keeps the chances of reunifying Taiwan low and the tensions likely to erupt into military conflict,” said Cotton.
As a result, Cotton emphasized that a change in the ambiguous strategy toward Taiwan would play a key role in maintaining security stability in the Taiwan Strait. “This is simply making a clear statement about the ambiguous space that has been in place, but it will only change in means, all for the same end, which is peace across the Taiwan Strait,” said Cotton.
“To make sure that any solution between Taipei and Beijing is reached through peaceful means, not through force.”
Senator Cotton also mentioned that Taiwan’s military has improved in recent years and is actively focused on developing the necessary capabilities to delay a confrontation with the PLA. According to Cotton, the sale of advanced fighter jets and weapons, and missile defense systems to Taiwan has significantly improved their cybersecurity capabilities so that the integrity of their information systems can be maintained if China were to launch an attack on Taiwan.
However, Cotton suggested that Taiwan still needs to expand its naval forces, although such a goal is quite difficult.
“We don’t make non-nuclear or diesel submarines anymore, and most of the countries that do are very reluctant to sell them to Taiwan,” said Cotton, “and we should be thinking about ways to assist Taiwan in acquiring the single best weapon against maritime attack, which is more submarines. ”
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