The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked US lawmakers who have expressed concern for Taiwan’s security, after a US lawmaker reportedly asked the Pentagon to create an “arsenal of deterrence” for Taiwan.
According to Fox News Digital, US Representative Mike Gallagher wrote a letter to US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks saying that the US “finds itself needing to rebuild a different kind of arsenal — an arsenal of deterrence,” and demanding a classified briefing from the Pentagon on ways to aid Taiwan’s defense.
The arsenal should be able to be “promptly” delivered to Taiwan, because “rearming Taiwan after hostilities have commenced, as we did with Ukraine, would be significantly more difficult, if not infeasible,” Fox News cited Gallagher as saying.
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“In December 1940, while we were still at peace, [former US] president Franklin D. Roosevelt famously called on the United States to be the ‘great arsenal of democracy,’” he wrote.
Gallagher, who serves as chair of the US House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, said that Roosevelt’s call to provide a “lifeline” to allies during World War II also helped to “arm our own military in advance of and through the years of heavy conflict and ultimately win the war,” he wrote.
Gallagher said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has ordered the Chinese military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027 and, to prevent war, the US must “quickly remake an arsenal of deterrence that can arm Taiwan as well as our own forces to allow us to prevail in any conflict in the Indo-Pacific.”
Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) also thanked the US for continuing to observe the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances.”
Taiwan would continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities in light of continued military expansionism and provocation from China to safeguard public welfare, freedom and its democratic way of life, he said.
Separately, US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino on Monday said that the US military is aware that China is increasing its provocative acts near the Taiwan Strait ahead of next month’s elections, and called for Beijing to curb its provocative behavior and devote itself to resolving the issue peacefully.
Aquilino said the US had asked to speak with Chinese People’s Liberation Army theater commanders for a third consecutive year, but China rebuffed the request through its embassy, citing “unresolved technical issues for a telephone conference.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
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
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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