China has noted the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and could take steps to protect itself from a similar rebuke stemming from a more aggressive posture toward Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.
“You have to believe that they’re thinking along those lines, if they were considering doing something in the future,” Austin told reporters shortly after he left Cambodia, where he attended a series of meetings with ASEAN defense ministers.
He said he had not “seen any physical signs of them insulating themselves.”
Photo: AP
Asked if he anticipated Pacific Rim nations would rally to Taiwan’s side if China were to launch an invasion, Austin said allies’ respect for the rules-based international order “will lead them in whatever direction they go in, and not just allegiance to the United States.”
US President Joe Biden has said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily from a Chinese attack — remarks that prompted Beijing to increase pressure on Taiwan following a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August.
Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Indonesia last week held their first in-person meeting since Biden assumed office, a session aimed at putting the US-China relationship on a more stable footing.
Photo: REUTERS
Still, China remains a “challenge” for the US and is likely already working to safeguard its economy and supply chains against sanctions allies would impose if it tries to invade Taiwan.
“China is our basic challenge. We don’t call them a threat, we call them a challenge. That’s the relationship that we believe we have,” Austin said. “We have a competitive relationship and not a contentious relationship.”
Austin met with Chinese Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和) in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Tuesday, the first face-to-face meeting between the two since Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.
Photo: AFP
The Pentagon chief called for the two sides to keep their lines of communication open and warned of “increasingly dangerous behavior” by Chinese military aircraft in the Indo-Pacific region, according to a statement and briefing by US officials after the meeting.
US forces are “spending a lot more time” training in Asia, for military exercises such as Garuda Shield, Austin said.
“Our troops want to train with allies and partners. They want to develop interoperability,” he said.
Austin described his meetings with officials from China, India, the Philippines and other nations on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering as “very productive.”
“This is a big area, a vast area and it supports a lot of commerce,” he said. “We want to make sure that the skies and seas remain open and accessible to everybody in the region and around the globe.”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
ONE LAST TALK: While Xi said that Taiwan was a ‘red line,’ Biden, in what is likely his last meeting with Xi as president, called for an end to China’s military activity around Taiwan China’s military intimidation and economic coercion against Taiwan are the main causes of tensions that are destabilizing peace in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei said yesterday while thanking US President Joe Biden for expressing Washington’s firm stance of maintaining peace and stability in the region. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met on Saturday for their third meeting and their first talks in seven months on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Lima, Peru. It was likely Biden’s last meeting as president with Xi. During their conversation, Biden reiterated the US’ opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” from either
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