Biden, Democrats lack of urgency towards China poses significant threat to America s security thehill.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehill.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Facing the Chinese communist regime’s increasing aggression in the Asia-pacific region,
the newly appointed Indo-Pacific Commander John Aquilino has recently requested an additional $890 million in spending from Congress to strengthen military equipment in Guam, Alaska, and Hawaii for possible military confrontations. Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s top Asia official revealed a new strategy to contain China in the region.
Adm. John C. Aquilino and Adm. Philip S. Davidson with Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin arrive at at a Change of Command ceremony for the U.S Indo-Pacific Command, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam west of Honolulu, Hawaii, on April 30, 2021. (Cindy Ellen Russell/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
For 70 years, “restraint,” in varying forms and degrees, has characterized America’s debate about its relationship with Taiwan. This remains the case today, despite the growing strategic challenge from China regionally, and now globally.
In his March 9, 2021 testimony before the United States Senate Armed Services Committee, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip S. Davidson offered a stark assessment of the Chinese threat:
“I worry that they’re accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order, which they’ve long said that they want to do by 2050. I’m worried about them
My Turn: China and Taiwan: Will there be war?
A Taiwan Coast Guard officer stands guard under a Taiwanese flag during Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou s visit to Pengjia Islet in the East China Sea, north of Taiwan, April 9, 2016. AP
Published: 5/26/2021 8:24:09 AM
This column is about Taiwan, home to 23 million people and a democratically elected government. China considers Taiwan “an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” a breakaway province that China is determined to “reunite” with the mainland.
The Economist magazine calls this situation “the most dangerous place on earth.” Will there be a war over Taiwan in the foreseeable future?
Some background is in order. During the 1930s and 1940s there was ongoing civil war between the Nationalists, the official government of China, and the Communists led by Mao Tse-tung. In 1949, Mao won. The Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai Shek, and the remnants of his army retreated from the Chinese mainland to the island of Taiwan.