US Sees ‘Urgent’ Need to Bolster Taiwan’s Defenses to Deter Beijing Attack: Official

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A leading Pentagon official on Wednesday said bolstering Taiwan’s defenses to deter a possible invasion by communist China is an “urgent” task.

Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing is engaging in destabilizing and “intentionally provocative” actions toward the self-ruled island.

The CCP claims that Taiwan is a province of China and should come under its rule, although the self-ruled island has its own Constitution, military, and liberal democratic political system. Beijing has in recent months ramped up political and military pressure on Taiwan, including through a show of force in the island’s air defense zone.

“Without question, bolstering Taiwan’s self-defenses is an urgent task and an essential feature of deterrence,” Ratner told the committee hearing, which was attended by a group of bipartisan senators and sought to address escalating tensions between Beijing and Taipei.

“This is not a partisan matter, this is a matter that’s important to all of us,” Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) said.

Ratner said Beijing is placing “the prosperity and security of the region at risk,” and its actions are “part of a pattern of PRC military coercion and aggression against other U.S. allies and partners in the region, including India, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam,” referring to the People’s Republic of China.

“We are seeing countries stepping up their military presence in the region and their willingness to support deterrence in a way that we haven’t before,” he added, mentioning joint military activities with Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

The United States maintains a decades-long foreign policy known as “strategic ambiguity,” but under the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) is required to provide the self-ruled island with military equipment for its self-defense.

The hearing comes days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington is “resolutely committed to Taiwan” if the CCP invades, and will ensure that “Taiwan has the means to defend itself.”

“We are resolutely committed to Taiwan, to making sure it has the means to defend itself, but here again, I hope that China’s leaders think very carefully about this and about not precipitating a crisis that would have, I think, terrible consequences for lots of people and one that’s in no one’s interest, starting with China,” Blinken said at the Reuters Next Conference on Dec. 2.

Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, shared the ministry’s Twitter account that the government will “never” bow down to pressure from the CCP.

Reuters contributed to this report.