Biden officials have accelerated their efforts to restructure Taiwan’s defense systems as they plan to have strong U.S. forces in the region to try to prevent possible attacks by Chinese troops, say current and former U.S. officials. But the recent Biden’s statement about military involvement in Taiwan’s defence was said to be “misstatement” by the whit-house. This move reveals that US would not want any direct confrontation with China, even to defend Taiwan.
Why won’t US be Hard on China?
The Russia-Ukraine war has revealed that no matter how supportive west may be on paper, it won’t get involved militarily against Russia or China.
And the chain of sanctions on Russia has already pushed the world towards Global hunger the similar kind of sanction on China would result in even worse situation. US companies are greatly dependant on China which would deter the US from making any adverse economic move.
China holds a monopoly in global supply chain and essential manufacturing sector, this is why experts predict that China is not likely to face consequences like Russia. Any move against China would greatly hit the global market instantly in the worst ever possible manner.
Taiwan must be prepared with plenty of weapons, food supply, and economic support because ultimately they would be alone in real Chinese invasion.
The Russian war in Ukraine has made US and Taiwanese officials well aware that a dictator could order an attack on a neighboring area at any time. But it also showed how a small army can withstand a seemingly powerful enemy.
U.S. officials are learning lessons from equipping Ukraine to cooperate with Taiwan in forming a powerful force that can repel the offensive in the sea by China, which has one of the largest troops in the world.
The goal is to turn Taiwan into what some officials call a “jungle” —a place full of weapons and other forms of US-led support that seem too painful to be attacked.
Taiwan has long had arrows that could hit China. But newly made American-made weapons are better equipped to repel aggressive forces: mobile rocket platforms, F-16 jets and anti-ship projectiles. Some military analysts say Taiwan may buy naval mines and armored drones later. And as is the case in Ukraine, the US government can also provide intelligence to improve the killing of weapons, even if it stops sending troops.
U.S. officials have been quietly pressuring their Taiwanese counterparts to buy weapons suitable for the asymmetric war, a dispute in which young soldiers use mobile systems to carry out deadly strikes in superpowers, say U.S. and Taiwanese officials.
Washington is increasingly using the presence of its troops and allies as a deterrent. The Pentagon has begun revealing more details about US navigation via the Taiwan Strait – 30 from the beginning of 2020. And U.S. officials are commending their counterparts such as Australia, Britain, Canada and France when their warships cross the road.
In strengthening its stance and language, the United States strives to move the fine line between prevention and resentment. The move puts Chinese President Xi Jinping at risk of ordering an attack on Taiwan, some analysts say. The Chinese offensive against Taiwan could take many forms, such as a full-blown sea and air raid on a large island with arrows, small island attacks off the southeast coast of China, a naval blockade or a cyberattack attack.
“Are we clear on what is blocking China and what is upsetting China?” said Bonnie S. Glaser, director of the Asian program at the German Marshall Fund in the United States. “The answer to that is ‘no,’ and that place is dangerous.”
“We need to think long and hard about how we can strengthen the team,” he said.
U.S. officials often discuss actions that could be prevented because they are considered to be provocative. In Trump’s administration, officials from the National Security Council have discussed the deployment of U.S. troops in Taiwan, said a former official. Officials from the White House and the Pentagon also proposed sending a senior U.S. military team to Taiwan, but the idea was killed after senior officials at the State Department protested, a former official said.
President Joe Biden’s strong language during a visit to Tokyo this week has become irritating, said Glaser and other analysts in Washington.
The president reiterated on Monday that the United States had “committed” military involvement in defending Taiwan – the third time he had made such a statement during his presidency. And he clearly stated that he would take steps beyond what the United States is doing in Ukraine. Although Beijing sees the words as warlike, they are in line with Washington’s new emphasis on strong blockade.
On Tuesday, Biden said in Tokyo that the decades-old “strategic ambiguity” policy – which leaves open the possibility of US troops fighting for Taiwan – remains intact. “The policy has not changed at all,” he said.
Harry B. Harris Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and a retired attorney who led the US Pacific Command, said the United States now needed “clear clarity” rather than “strategic ambiguity” in order to be a hindrance. China, he said, “does not withhold its preparations for anything it decides it wants to do simply because it is not clear about our position.”
The United States has been urging its supporters to talk about Taiwan in an effort to show Beijing that Washington can mobilize other countries to fight China if it attacks the democratic island. On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a press conference with Biden that the two leaders had confirmed “the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan Strait.”
In the three months of war in Ukraine, Washington has joined forces with European and Asian allies to impose sanctions against Russia. U.S. officials say they hope the measures are sending a message to China and other countries about the cost of carrying out the kind of attack considered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. officials are already discussing how to double the economic sanctions and military aid used to defend Ukraine in the event of the Taiwan conflict.
“I want PLA officials to wake up every day and believe that they can not divide Taiwan in conflict and instead have to face the decision to start a costly, widespread conflict when their intentions are beyond their control,” said Eric Sayers, the organisation’s senior adviser. The US Pacific Command is a counterpart in the American Enterprise Institute, referring to the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army, by its first names.
American intelligence analysts have been studying the relationship that exists between China and Russia and the lessons that Beijing may have been studying in Ukraine.
Chinese leaders are faced with complex statistics to measure whether their troops can capture Taiwan without incurring huge costs.