A senior US defense official has accused China of changing the "status quo" in the Taiwan Strait by its missile buildup aimed at Taiwan, a situation that is forcing Washington to devise new ways to deal with the danger of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
The official, Peter Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, also pointed out that the US has developed improved defense relationships with a horseshoe-shaped ring of Asian nations around China that might come into play if China attacks Taiwan.
He made his comments in testimony at a hearing on China's military modernization conducted by the US Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally established investigative body, in Washington on Thursday.
While administration officials from US President George W. Bush down have long warned against unilateral changes to the "status quo" by either side of the Strait, this is believed to be the most direct assertion by a senior official in an open, official forum that China has unilaterally changed the "status quo."
In his testimony, Rodman ticked off a wide range of advanced weaponry that Beijing has acquired in recent years, much of it aimed at Taiwan, that has altered the military equation in the Strait, and has required new thinking by the US.
"Our will to meet our security commitments remain firm. This shows both that PLA [People's Liberation Army] modernization affects our strategic calculus for Taiwan Strait security and that a prudent hedging policy is essential," Rodman said.
"US policy opposes unilateral changes in the Taiwan Strait status quo by either party. The PLA military build-up changes that status quo and requires us to adapt to the new situation, as we are doing," Rodman said.
Afterwards, asked by reporters, Rodman pointed to the Chinese missile buildup across from Taiwan: "When you go from zero missiles opposite [Taiwan in] the Taiwan Strait, and a few years later there are 700, that's a change in the status quo."
When asked how the US is responding, Rodman said "Our job is to maintain a military balance in the region and we take our responsibility seriously."
"We have commitments to many friends and allies and obviously its our duty to make sure we're in a position to carry out those commitments," he added.
Rodman declined to be specific on revisions in US strategy to deal with the situation.
"It's a continuing process. It's our duty to be prepared for possible situations. I don't see this as an issue of alarm, it's an issue of prudence and what one would expect us to be doing," he said.
In response to a question at the hearing by a commission member to explain US "hedging policy," Rodman said, "it means being realistic about the risks of a Taiwan contingency and being prepared for that. It means keeping an eye on what they're doing and being ready to deal with it if the worst case should happen."
Rodman then added, "It means collaborating with allies." He said that over the past several years "our defense relations with a number of other countries in the region have improved, because other countries have the same reaction we do to China's rise."
In pointing to specific Chinese weapons acquisitions, Rodman mentioned Beijing's acquisition of five modern submarines, 10 new varieties of ballistic missiles with enhanced targeting capabilities, anti-ship cruise missiles and expeditionary warfare, including amphibious lift acquisitions.
also see story:
Cross-strait clash means `everybody loses,' US warns
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS