Ex-US official warns of China military operation against Taiwan in late 2020s
Michèle Flournoy
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, November 8: The storm whipped by the visit of the then US Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosy to Taipei refuses to subside amid build up of anticipation of China pushing for full integration of Taiwan with the mainland. A former US defence official who served in the Barack Obama administration has warned that China may undertake military operations against Taiwan in the next few years within this decade.
China since the visit of Pelosi has been indulging in sabre rattling against Taiwan, sending fighter jets and warships, to whip up anticipation of the use of force by Beijing. Focus Taiwan in a report has said that former American defense official Michèle Flournoy on Wednesday has called on Taiwan, the United States and their allies to be prepared for “a moment in the late 2020s” when China may launch the military operations against Taipei. She was speaking virtually at a security conference in Taipei. Flournoy was under secretary of defense for policy in the Obama administration.
China has struck a studied neutrality amid the Israel-Hamas war even while Beijing’s allies Iran and Saudi Arabia along with Qatar are actively involved in the fluid geostrategic situation. China’s silence is being interpreted to Beijing drawing confidence that it could also flout the international norms on the lines of Israel in furtherance to the execution of the ‘One China Policy’ in an actual sense.
“China is trying to change some of those rules of the international order and to assert its will as its economic and military power grows. Increasing Sino-U.S. tensions in recent years were not because of a change of U.S. policy but because of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership change from former President Hu Jintao to President Xi Jinping in 2012,” Flournoy remarked in the security conference.
Upon taking the third term in March this year, Xi is pushing for a muscular foreign policy with the strategic affairs commentators underlining that the Chinese Communist ruler is whipping nationalism to cover up an imploding economy within the country while he also undertakes purge of his rival in the politburo. “Deterrence is the key to preventing a potential U.S.-China military conflict over Taiwan, both by denial and deterrence through cost and position. Denial means convincing Xi that he can’t be successful using military force to achieve his objectives, while deterrence through cost and position means that even if he could succeed, it would be at such great cost that it would be a pyrrhic victory,” added Flournoy, who added: “Xi was focused on both economic and political coercion in shrinking Taiwan’s international space, putting pressure on Taiwan to change its posture. Xi also instructed the PLA to continue its ongoing buildup to give him military options against Taiwan by 2027.”
About The Author
