Pentagon: China ‘Likely’ Preparing Taiwan Invasion

By Staff, Agencies 

It seems that the US-China tension has reached the climax as a Pentagon official has announced that defending Taiwan from Chinese invasion has become an “urgent” and “priority” task for the US military.

According to reports, a senior Pentagon official told US lawmakers that Beijing has plans to forcefully “unify” the island under mainland rule.

Testifying at the Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Wednesday, Assistant War Secretary for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner sounded alarms over Taiwan’s safety, insisting that Washington must help it to counter a “real and dangerous” threat from China.

“Bolstering Taiwan's defenses is an urgent task,” he said, adding “We are modernizing our capabilities, updating US force posture and developing new operational concepts.”

Though the official offered no evidence of an imminent Chinese invasion, he nonetheless said defending the island should be “an absolute priority” for the US military. War Secretary Lloyd Austin, meanwhile, has pointed to recent operations by Chinese warships near Taiwan, deeming them “rehearsals” for an attack.

The call to bolster Taiwan's defenses comes as the Joe Biden administration continues a number of long-standing policies that Beijing sees as hostile, including repeat transits of the Taiwan Strait with American warships. 

Since 2009, Washington has handed more than $32 billion in weapons to Taiwan and continues to engage with Taiwanese military officials.