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BEIJING: China on Wednesday (March 10) accused a senior US commander of trying to “exaggerate” the threat of an invasion of Taiwan to inflate Washington’s defense spending and justify its own military wiles in Asia.
The top US military officer in the Asia-Pacific, Admiral Philip Davidson, said on Tuesday that China could invade Taiwan in the next six years as Beijing accelerates its moves to supplant US military power in Asia.
Democratic and autonomous Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion from authoritarian China, whose leaders see the island as part of their territory and which they have vowed to one day recover.
“I am concerned that they are (China) accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order … by 2050,” Davidson said.
“Taiwan is clearly one of his ambitions before that. And I think the threat manifests itself during this decade, in fact, in the next six years,” he told a US Senate committee.
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Taiwan separated from China at the end of a civil war in 1949 and exists under constant threat of invasion from the mainland.
Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, but it remains the island’s most important unofficial ally and military backer.
Beijing was quick to reject the admiral’s comments.
“Some Americans continue to use the Taiwan issue to exaggerate China’s military threat,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.
“But, in essence, the United States is looking for a pretext to increase its military spending, expand its forces and interfere in regional affairs.”
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Donald Trump embraced warmer ties with Taiwan while battling with China on issues such as trade and national security.
The administration of President Joe Biden has offered Taiwan cause for optimism for continued support, with the State Department saying in January that the United States’ commitment to the island was “rock solid.”
Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States was formally invited to Biden’s inauguration, a move unprecedented since 1979.
China has also made expansive territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea and even threatens the US island of Guam, Davidson stressed.
“Guam is a target today,” he warned, recalling that the Chinese army published a video that simulates an attack on an island base very similar to the US facilities in Diego García and Guam.
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He called on lawmakers to approve the installation in Guam of an Aegis Ashore anti-missile battery, capable of intercepting China’s most powerful missiles.
Guam “must be defended and must be prepared for the threats that will come in the future,” Davidson said.
In addition to other Aegis missile defense systems targeting Australia and Japan, Davidson asked lawmakers to budget for offensive weaponry “so China knows that the costs of what they are looking to do are too high.”
