The US Navy is ready to come to Taiwan’s aid if it is ordered to do so, US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo told a US television news program in a segment about the state of the navy in the face of China’s rapid military expansion.
“It’s a decision of the president of the United States and a decision of the Congress,” he told 60 Minutes reporter Norah O’Donnell in the 27-minute segment that aired on CBS on Sunday.
“But the bulk of the United States Navy will be deployed rapidly to the Western Pacific to come to the aid of Taiwan if the order comes to aid Taiwan in thwarting [a Chinese] invasion,” he said.
Photo: Screen grab from CBS “60 Minutes”
The navy is ready, but “I’ll never admit to being ready enough,” he added.
The interview took place last month on the aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz deployed near Guam.
The US Pacific Fleet accounts for about 60 percent of the entire US Navy.
One-third of the US Navy is deployed at all times, meaning there are about 100 of 300 ships at sea, Paparo said.
Nevertheless, its fleet is already outnumbered by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, whose ships have increased to about 350 from only 37 in the early 2000s, he said.
“We call it the ‘Decade of Concern,’” he said. “We’ve seen a 10-fold increase in the size of the [PLA] Navy.”
However, the PLA is still working to catch up in terms of powerful aircraft carriers, with only two diesel-fueled versions in operation compared with the US’ 11 nuclear-powered vessels, the report said.
Asked if the numbers matter, Paparo said that “quantity has a quality all its own.”
“I’m not comfortable with the trajectory,” he added.
US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday disagreed that the US Navy is being outpaced by China, saying it is still in a position to prevail.
“But that’s not blind confidence,” he told O’Donnell. “We are concerned with the trajectory that China’s on, with China’s behavior, but we are in a good position right now.”
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS