According to Voice of America, Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, said in a telephone press conference on the 8th local time that if a war in the Taiwan Strait broke out, the first thing his troops would do is The thing is to “sink” a Chinese warship.
The Air and Space Forces Association (Air and Space Forces Association) held a three-day large-scale exhibition and war seminar in Aurora, Colorado starting on the 6th. Important Air Force and Space Force generals gave speeches or participated in discussions at the meeting.
Wilsbach mentioned in a telephone press conference held at the venue on the 8th that he got inspiration from China’s deployment of warships when the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi) visited Taiwan last year. How China deployed their warships when they got to Taiwan. They deployed the ships to the east of Taiwan as a sort of blockade.”
If deterring China’s invasion is ineffective, its warships must be sunk
Wilsbach said that the United States believes that deterrence, that is, deterrence, is the best way to prevent conflicts in the Taiwan Strait. There are also more plans and exercises with the military of international partners. The question is, once deterrence fails, what will the United States do?
“We had to sink those ships,” said Welsbach. “Sinking a warship is not only the number one goal of Pacific Air Forces, it’s actually the number one goal of anyone involved in this kind of conflict.”
“We believe that deterrence is our most valuable outcome in a possible Taiwan friction, and we also encourage China not to try to take that island by force,” the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association AFCEA said in a statement on the same day. A report by its outlet, Signal, referred to Welsbach’s statement during the telephone press conference.
“That’s not in their interest, that’s not in the world’s interest, that’s not in the region’s interest, and that’s certainly not in Taiwan’s interest,” Welsbach said. “So we’re saying, don’t take that island by force. We hope to deter them. But if deterrence fails, one of the first things to do, from the Pacific Air Forces standpoint, the first target we have to deal with, is the ships.”
The view of the U.S. intelligence community is that although China is determined to unify with Taiwan, China does not currently want a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. US National Intelligence Director Avril Haines (Avril Haines) told the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee hearing on “threats facing the United States around the world” on the 9th, “Our assessment is not that China wants war. ”
China wants peaceful reunification but does not rule out the use of force
Haynes also said at the hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the same topic on the 8th that Chinese leader Xi Jinping will increase pressure on Taiwan to force Taiwan to reunify with him during his third term.
Military experts also believe that China’s primary goal is peaceful reunification, but that does not mean that China will not use force against Taiwan.
“I think it’s true that China prefers peaceful reunification, because that avoids the risk and high cost of trying to resolve this issue by force,” said Phillip Saunders, director of the Center for Chinese Military Studies at the National Defense University in the United States on the 10th. The institute said in an online discussion on China’s intentions toward Taiwan.
But Sanders, co-author of “Crossing the Strait: China’s Military Prepares for war with Taiwan,” also reminded people that in the thinking of the People’s Republic of China, “peace” It does not mean that it will not use coercion of force to achieve that goal. There is a chapter in his book that China’s policy towards Taiwan is a mixture of three tools, including persuasion, united front and leverage.
Red line uncertain but coercion works
Sanders explained that under the precedent of China’s oppression of Xinjiang and Hong Kong, it is increasingly ineffective to use “persuasion” to promote Taiwan’s reunification with it; ’ have not worked well, so what remains is that the People’s Republic of China has become increasingly reliant on the use of leverage and coercion types of tools against Taiwan.
But Sanders said it’s worrying that no one knows what the red line is that would lead Beijing to use force. “My concern is that Taiwan takes some kind of step towards independence and they think it’s just another little sausage cut. move, but Beijing says, wow! You’ve crossed a red line; or in the case of the US, we’ve done a little bit more on a military level in our unofficial relationship with Taiwan.”
Sanders said that maybe the United States only thinks it is a gradual and gentle step, but Beijing thinks it is a step across the red line, which is intolerable, and it must use force to solve this problem. Substantially different small moves, but Beijing believes that it is already a step across the red line, must use force and cannot allow it to exist, “The biggest worry is that Beijing may redefine what its red line is. Last week it could accept this Weeks cannot be tolerated.”
The United States and its allies still have a window to help Taiwan defend
Joel Wuthnow, another author of the book “Crossing the Strait” and a senior fellow at the Center for Chinese Military Studies at the National Defense University, also said in the discussion that the outside world does not have too many doubts about the PLA’s ability to attack or block with firepower, provided that Assuming the United States does not intervene, however, launching a full-scale amphibious invasion is still a very difficult challenge for the PLA.
Wu Zhiyuan pointed out, “I do think there is now a window to assist Taiwan, the United States and our core allies in the region can take a more serious look at Taiwan’s defenses and equipment, and the training they need, so that they can respond to any PLA trying to cross Efforts in the Taiwan Strait pose a clear danger.”
The Biden administration last week approved a new round of arms sales to Taiwan, including F-16 fighter jets, missiles and related equipment, with a total value of US$619 million. China expressed strong dissatisfaction with this and lodged stern representations with the US.
Tan Kefei, spokesman of China’s Ministry of National Defense, said that the US arms sale to Taiwan is “gross interference in China’s internal affairs” and “serious threat to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.” He said that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army “always stands ready to fight back against all independence provocations and interference by external forces at any time, and resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”