The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Michael McCaul, warns that the United States may have to send troops to Taiwan if China invades the island nation.
“If Communist China were to invade Taiwan, that would certainly be on the table and something that would be discussed by Congress and with the American people,” the Texas Republican told Fox News.
“Are they ready to do this? Is Taiwan worth it?” he asked. “I can argue for many reasons why it is.”
🇺🇸 🇹🇼 🇨🇳Sending US troops to Taiwan is ‘on the table’, says US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul pic.twitter.com/b5EDQ7d3Rr
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) April 8, 2023
The People’s Liberation Army Navy recently sent eight warships and 42 aircraft into the Taiwan Strait to intimidate the island nation, which China claims as its own territory. China also announced that it would apply a regime of detention and capture within the strait, while Taiwan responded that it would not comply.
“These are intimidation tactics and the saber rattling, in my view, only affirms our resolve against the Chinese Communist Party. It has no deterrent effect on us,” McCaul said. “In fact, I think it galvanizes America’s support for Taiwan.”
“We talked about a lot of very constructive ways to deter, including economic ones,” McCaul added. “We discussed several military scenarios, including a blockade, [and] how would they respond to that.”
“In general, knowing that deterrence is key,” he continued. “We don’t want war. We want peace and deterrence and peace through force to achieve it.”
It was an honor to meet Vice President Lai.
My colleagues and I are proud to visit Taiwan and will not be intimidated by the CCP’s aggression. pic.twitter.com/XCQAl3VwmQ
— Michael McCaul (@RepMcCaul) April 7, 2023
McCaul argued that Beijing would likely prefer to interfere in Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election than go to war, saying “it will be much easier for them to influence an election without a shot being fired than to go to war.”
“I would say that freedom and democracy are worth supporting in Taiwan, but if that doesn’t persuade people, 90 percent of the world’s advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities exist right here in Taiwan,” McCaul said.
“If this is compromised in any way, it’s a strategic asset, a national security asset, [and] if it is taken by invasion or broken, it will send this world into a world of hurt and global depression.”
Representative Ami Bera (D-CA), also a member of Taiwan’s delegation to the meeting in California, also warned about the implications of escalating tensions with China.
“I think it’s very difficult to ask countries in Asia to verbally say, ‘This is what we do.’ [in the event of an invasion]” said Bera.
“But if you think about the two countries we visited before we got to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, both of them have experienced economic retaliation in South Korea for deploying THAAD batteries in Japan in the past for their supplies of critical rare earth elements are cut,” added Bera.
Rep. French Hill (R-AZ) added that a military confrontation with China would severely affect the global economy.
“You have, for the first time, an Indo-Pacific strategy in Korea, a national security strategy,” Hill said. “They haven’t had it before. They’ve been primarily concerned with just North Korea and the North Asia region, but in this Indo-Pacific regional national security strategy, [there’s] desire to participate”.
“And if you don’t like inflation now, wait until 60 percent of world trade goes through the strait between here, but 80 miles between China and Taiwan, it’s not just a military issue,” Hill added. “It’s a problem of the way of life in the United States. And that’s why deterrence is so important.”
One might counter it is the price of over-reliance on trade with an aggressive communist nation like China. If the United States were more self-confident, it would improve its national security position in the world.
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OPINION: This article contains comments that reflect the opinion of the author.
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