US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday.
Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported.
He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added.
Photo: AFP
The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the position and prior comments made as a Fox News television host.
Hegseth submitted a 75-page report to the committee on Monday last week, which provided a more detailed explanation on his views on China and Taiwan.
In it, he said that “the United States can help prevent miscalculation by maintaining our longstanding policy in support of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Photo: AP
Asked if the US should explicitly state its reaction to Chinese use of force against Taiwan, he said that “the United States presently maintains its longstanding commitments as outlined in the Taiwan Relations Act, three communiques and the six assurances. If confirmed, I will review our current posture with the president and other national security leaders, and meet with the committee in a classified session to discuss further.”
Regarding the state of US-China military relations, he said that such dialogue “can be useful in reducing miscalculation and misperception.”
“Intent, however, may not be accurately conveyed by dialogue. Chinese Communist Party actions will always speak louder than their words,” he said.
Photo: AP
Separately, US Representative Mike Waltz, the incoming national security adviser for Trump, on Tuesday said he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China.
“We have over a US$20 billion backlog of things that they’ve paid for and that we need to work hard to free up and have them get what they paid for as a deterrent,” Waltz said at an event in Washington.
Meanwhile, US Senator Marco Rubio was expected to say China has lied and cheated its way to superpower status at the expense of the US, according to remarks he was to deliver at his confirmation hearing for secretary of state yesterday.
Rubio was expected to call for the US to put its “core national interests above all else once again” as it works to “create a free world out of chaos,” according to the remarks.
“We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into this global order,” Rubio was expected to say. “And they took advantage of all its benefits, but they ignored all its obligations and responsibilities. Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked and stolen their way to global superpower status, at our expense.”
The comments amount to a summing up of Rubio’s worldview. He would say voters chose Trump, because they want a strong US that promotes peace abroad and prosperity at home, and that would be the US Department of State’s core mission if he is confirmed.
Rubio, who has long been a member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee that is examining his nomination, is expected to face little opposition from Republicans or Democrats in his confirmation process.
Additional reporting from Reuters and Bloomberg
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat