Views in Taiwan are “hardening” in favor of independence after China’s moves in the past few years to tighten control over Hong Kong, the head of the US intelligence community said on Thursday.
“I would say that already Taiwan is hardening, to some extent, toward independence as they’re watching, essentially, what happened in Hong Kong, and I think that is an increasing challenge,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said in testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
Questions about China dominated the “Worldwide Threats” hearing with Haines and US Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Photo: Bloomberg
US-China ties have remained tense into US President Joe Biden’s administration, which has continued to criticize Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea. Haines previously called China an “unparalleled priority” for the intelligence community.
The spy chief was pressed by US Senator Jack Reed, the panel’s chairman, on the impact that a shift clarifying the US’ long-held position of “strategic ambiguity” on defending Taiwan if it is attacked would have in Beijing and Taipei. Such a move would involve the US saying definitively that it would come to Taiwan’s aid in the case of an attack.
China “would find this deeply” destabilizing, and it would “solidify Chinese perceptions that the US is bent on constraining China’s rise, including through military force,” Haines said.
Berrier said he sees a “significant” threat from China’s rapid modernization of its military, saying that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is capable of placing nuclear warheads on its next-generation hypersonic missiles.
China is increasingly using technology to try to “gain near-real-time tracking and observation” of Pentagon personnel and activities, he added.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) yesterday told a regular briefing that Beijing is determined to uphold its “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“The US should sufficiently recognize the harmful and dangerous nature of Taiwan independence,” he said.
A record 32 percent of Taiwan’s public favors immediate or eventual independence, according to a poll in December last year by the Election Study Center at National Chengchi University.
That figure comes as Beijing tightens its political grip over Hong Kong, in part by imposing national security legislation on the territory.
Still, 54 percent of the survey respondents expressed a preference for maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait.
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers