The Chinese threat to invade Taiwan is serious and more imminent than many understand, the US admiral chosen to lead the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific region said on Tuesday.
China considers taking control of Taiwan its “No. 1 priority,” US Navy Admiral John Aquilino, nominated to become commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told the US Senate Committee on Armed Services.
“The rejuvenation of the Chinese Communist Party is at stake” with the Taiwan issue, he said.
Photo: AFP
Aquilino disagreed with recent comments by the outgoing US Indo-Pacific commander, US Navy Admiral Philip Davidson, that China could attempt to take over Taiwan as soon as six years from now.
“My opinion is that this problem is much closer to us than most think and we have to take this on,” he told the panel, which was reviewing his nomination.
Aquilino said that the threat is such that the US needs to implement a proposed US$27 billion plan to boost US defenses in the region “in the near term and with urgency.”
“The Chinese Communist Party has generated some capabilities in the region that are designed to keep us out,” he said. “The most dangerous concern is that of a military force against Taiwan.”
However, Aquilino declined to comment on the suggestion by US Senator Tom Cotton that Beijing could opt to attack Taiwan as early as next year.
Aquilino, currently the head of the US Pacific fleet, said that there are two major concerns if China seized Taiwan: the potential threat to global trade and the damage it would have on the US’ credibility with its Asian allies such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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