US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday said that recent extensive Chinese military operations near Taiwan resembled “rehearsals,” while reaffirming Washington’s support for Taipei.
He said the US remained committed to supporting “Taiwan’s ability to defend itself.”
In a speech devoted largely to an array of challenges posed by an increasingly confident China, he underlined Washington’s “real differences” with Beijing.
Photo: Office of the Secretary of Defense via AP
Austin was speaking at a national defense forum at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
In the past few months, the Chinese military has mounted a series of sea and air operations near Taiwan.
“It looks a lot like them exploring their true capabilities,” Austin said. “It looks a lot like rehearsals.”
China is the only power capable of using its “economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system,” Austin said.
He said that the world’s two largest economic powers have “real differences both over interests and values, but the way that you manage them counts.”
Chinese leaders have been increasingly vocal about their “dissatisfaction with the prevailing order — and about their aim of displacing America from its global leadership role,” he added.
However, Austin said: “We seek neither confrontation nor conflict... We’re not seeking a new cold war or a world divided into rigid blocs.”
In the face of the Chinese challenge, the US would be deepening its ties with friendly countries in the region, including through joint exercises, he said.
“We remain steadfast to our one China policy,” Austin said, but also to “our commitments of the Taiwan Relations Act to support Taiwan’s ability to defend itself, while also maintaining our capacity to resist any resort to force that would jeopardize the security of the people of Taiwan.”
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
CHIPS AND DEFENSE: Trump said the US had lost its chip business and Taipei should pay it for defense, and added that ‘we’re no different than an insurance company’ Taiwan-US relations are solid, and both sides are in agreement that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region are everyone’s concern, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday following comments by former US president Donald Trump that Taiwan “should pay” for US defense. Taiwan is thankful to the US for supporting Taiwan’s bid to participate in international organizations, Cho told a news conference in Taipei. “I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100 percent of our chip business,” Trump told Bloomberg on June 25 in an interview that was published on Tuesday. “I think
SHOW OF SUPPORT: Taiwan has been one of the largest buyers of US defense equipment, supporting American businesses and jobs, US lawmakers said Taiwan has been paying for its own defense, a US Department of State official said on Wednesday, adding that purchases of military equipment are important to the US economy and for ensuring regional security. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked at a news conference about comments by former US president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s US presidential election, who said during an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that Taiwan should pay Washington for its defense needs. “The purchases that they [Taiwan] have made not only are important, we believe, to regional security, but are important to the United States economy,”
Hsu Wen-erh (許汶而) on Friday became the first Taiwanese to swim solo across the English Channel, saying she was very happy to bring Taiwan to the world. Hsu completed the challenge in 12 hours, 17 minutes and eight seconds, after swimming across the Strait of Gibraltar in October last year. She said she had planned to swim the English Channel in August next year, but seized the opportunity when a vacancy became available on the waiting list. She went to the UK in May to train for a test that involves swimming for six hours at 16°C, which people who want to swim