U.S. reaffirms support for Taiwan's defense in DoD report
ROC Central News Agency
10/28/2022 02:07 PM
Washington, Oct. 27 (CNA) The United States will continue to support Taiwan's efforts to develop asymmetric defense capabilities consistent with the evolving Chinese threat, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) said in its 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) released Thursday.
The People's Republic of China's (PRC) "coercive and increasingly aggressive endeavor to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences" is the most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security, the NDS asserted.
A key part of that, according to the report, is that the PRC has expanded and modernized nearly every aspect of the PLA, with a focus on offsetting U.S. military advantages, making it the "pacing challenge" for the DoD.
At the same time, the PRC has sought to undermine U.S. alliances and security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region by leveraging its economic influence and the People Liberation Army's (PLA) increasing strength to coerce its neighbors and threaten their interests, the NDS said.
Taiwan is no exception, according to the report, describing China's coercive actions toward Taiwan as "part of a broader pattern of destabilizing and coercive behavior that has stretched across the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and along the Line of Actual Control," it said.
To deal with the threat to Taiwan, the U.S. "will support Taiwan's asymmetric self-defense commensurate with the evolving PRC threat consistent with [its] one-China policy," the NDS said.
Wider Indo-Pacific region
The report also committed the U.S. to supporting allies' efforts to address "acute forms of gray zone coercion from the PRC's campaigns to establish control over the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, South China Sea and disputed land borders such as with India."
Despite identifying China as the U.S.' main strategic threat, however, the NDS kept an open attitude toward the prospect of cooperation with China.
"Conflict with the PRC is neither inevitable nor desirable. The Department's priorities support broader whole-of-government efforts to develop terms of interaction with the PRC that are favorable to our interests and values, while managing strategic competition and enabling the pursuit of cooperation on common challenges," it said.
The NDS warned, meanwhile, of the growing relationship between China and Russia.
Though "diverging interests and historical mistrust may limit the depth of their political and military cooperation, the PRC and Russia relationship continues to increase in breadth," the NDS said.
"Either state could seek to create dilemmas globally for the Joint Force in the event of U.S. engagement in a crisis or a conflict with the other."
On the PRC's nuclear posture, the NDS noted that Beijing could possess at least 1,000 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2030 through its ambitious expansion, modernization, and diversification of its nuclear forces.
"This could provide the PRC with new options before and during a crisis or conflict to leverage nuclear weapons for coercive purposes, including military provocations against U.S. allies and partners in the (Indo-Pacific) region.
On the PRC's missile defense capabilities, the NDS said that while the PRC still relies on Russian air and missile defense systems, intensive investment, development and testing over the past two decades have enabled it to improve its home-grown missile arsenal.
The precision and accuracy of its ballistic, hypersonic and nuclear-armed missiles "have greatly improved," the NDS said, because of more sophisticated and proliferated space-based Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) networks and improved Command and Control (C2) systems.
On Thursday, meanwhile, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby reiterated Washington's continued support for Taiwan's development of defense capabilities consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act.
Kirby reiterated that support at a news briefing amid concerns that China could mount an attack on Taiwan by 2027, as suggested by U.S. Secratary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday earlier this month.
As a sign of that support, Kirby cited the US$1.1 billion arms sale package approved by the DoD on Sept. 2, which included 60 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 100 Sidewinder tactical air missiles and logistics support for the Leshan Radar Station.
There has been no change to the U.S.' Taiwan Policy, so there is no reason for China to use the arms sale as a pretext to engage in a conflict, Kirby said, while reiterating that the U.S. does not want to see Taiwan or China unilaterally change the "status quo."
(By Stacy Hsu and Sean Lin)
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