China's military capability is not sufficient to allow it to take over Taiwan by force, the former commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command Admiral Dennis Blair said yesterday.
He made the remarks in a speech delivered at a forum on national defense hosted by the Institute for Taiwan Defense and Strategic Studies, a private think tank.
Blair said that US officials, including himself, had repeatedly told Chinese officials that it was impossible for Beijing to force unification on Taiwan because of the limited capabilities of China's military, and that the US would not shrink from a cross-strait military conflict.
PHOTO: CNA
In no one's interests
If a military conflict occurred in the Taiwan Strait, China, Taiwan and the US would all suffer huge losses, and nobody wants to see that happen, Blair said.
Blair said that the US had also asked the Taiwanese government not to provoke China, adding that moves toward formal independence are not in the country's best interests.
Blair added that he had told the Chinese government that if China made more social, political and economic progress, he believed Taiwan would be happy to negotiate some issues with China.
The former US official lead a US delegation that observed the Han Kuang No. 22 wargames, which took place last week in Taipei.
Blair said that the Taiwanese military had made some progress in its joint operation capabilities.
Every country has their own security concerns, he said, adding that Taiwan should develop its own joint operations model that is appropriate for its own military capabilities in light of the military threat from China.
Other modes of attack
He said China could wage unconventional warfare, such as information warfare, against Taiwan.
The Taiwanese military should develop various scenarios to counter any possible attacks from China, he said.
When asked what he would do in the face of China's military threat against Taiwan if he were Taiwan's defense minister, Blair said he had spoken with Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
He added: "I didn't come [to Taiwan] to teach [Lee] what to do."
Blair has observed Taiwanese military exercises several times, and said he believes Taiwan's military is becoming more flexible and more creative than the Chinese military in terms of problem-solving.
But he said that Taiwan needs to boost its national defense not just through military means, but also by all government bureaus and the public.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but