US warns China against attacking Taiwan, suggests island to increase defence budget

US national security adviser Robert O’Brien warned Bejing against attempting to take Taiwan by force as China has been engaged in a massive naval buildup. Speaking at an event in the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, O’Brien said that China is planning to gain the ability to push the United States out of the Western Pacific and engage in an amphibious landing in Taiwan.

“The problem with that is that amphibious landings are notoriously difficult,” O’Brien added, indicating the significant distance between China and Taiwan and lack of landing beaches.

The national security adviser to President Donald Trump said that there’s a lot of “ambiguity” around the possible response of the United States if China attacks Taiwan. He also suggested Taiwan to “turn themselves into a porcupine” militarily, saying the island can’t keep spending just 1% of the GDP on defence and hope to deter China’s “most massive military build-up in 70 years.”

Beijing has become more assertive on the reunification of Taiwan with China under “one country, two systems” which has threatened Taiwan’s claim of sovereignty. The self-governing island republic considers itself as sovereign while China claims the province as Beijing’s territory under its one-China policy and has been pushing to implement the Hong Kong system in Taiwan. 

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China-Taiwan tensions

The China-Taiwan tensions escalated last month after Chinese aircraft ventured across the median line of the Taiwan strait, causing the island’s airforce to scramble fighters and deploy air defence missile system. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, twelve J-16 fighters, two J-10 fighters, two J-11 fighters, two H-6 bombers and one Y-8 Anti-submarine warfare of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the line, violating island’s sovereignty.

Recently, the United States announced that it is establishing a new economic dialogue with Taiwan in the face of increasing pressure from Beijing. David Stilwell, a top US diplomat for East Asia, told a virtual forum hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation that Washington stepped up support for Taiwan as Beijing increasingly posed threat to the island’s peace and stability. He said that new economic ties are a part of “significant adjustments” with Washington’s “one-China” policy.

“We will continue to help Taipei resist the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to pressure, intimidate, and marginalize Taiwan,” Stilwell said.

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