A White House official said on Thursday that “there is no reason” for a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, just days after a Pentagon official warned that China could be militarily capable of attacking Taiwan before 2024.
At a White House press briefing, John Kirby, coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, declined to comment on the remarks made by U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday at a think tank event.
“I would just say, look, we monitor this – monitor this as best we can. And I’m not going to get into intelligence assessments one way or the other,” Kirby said.
“There is no reason for this to erupt into conflict,” Kirby said, referring to recent tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
The White House official said the U.S. does not want to see any unilateral change to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait by force.
“And there’s absolutely no reason for that to happen since there’s been no change in the way we’re approaching Taiwan and Taiwan’s self-defense,” he added.
Kirby also declined to confirm reports of talks for a joint production of weapons between the U.S. and Taiwan, saying he does not “have anything specific on that.”
He, nevertheless, reiterated the U.S. commitment to help Taiwan defend itself, saying that “we’re always going to be open to – to considering new ways to do that in concert with Taiwan.”
During a talk hosted by the Atlantic Council on Wednesday, Gilday said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could be capable of invading Taiwan by the end of this year or in 2023.
“So, when we talk about the 2027 window, in my mind, that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window,” said Gilday. “I can’t rule it out. I don’t mean at all to be alarmist by saying that; it’s just that we can’t, we can’t wish that away.”
“It’s not just what President Xi [Jinping] says, but it’s, it’s how the Chinese behave and what they do… And what we’ve seen over the past 20 years is that they have delivered on every promise they’ve made earlier than they said they were going to deliver on it,” he said.
The so-called 2027 window was first put forward by then-U.S. Indo-Pacific Command commander Admiral Phil Davidson, who said during a congressional testimony last year that the threat of a Chinese attack on Taiwan could “manifest…in the next six years.”
Similarly, U.S. Department of Defense Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder declined to comment on whether the Pentagon had reassessed or updated the 2027 timeline.
“I don’t have any new updates to provide,” Ryder said at a separate press briefing on Thursday.
“China continues to be the pacing challenge” and the U.S. is concerned about “their coercive and provocative behavior” in the region, Ryder said.
“Our focus is on working with allies and partners in that region to ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains free and open, and secure and stable,” he said. “We would call on all parties to do the same.”
In the meantime, Ryder said, the U.S. would continue to abide by its “one China” policy and to support Taiwan to maintain self-defense capabilities as it relates to the Taiwan Relations Act, a U.S. legislation that commits Washington to supplying Taiwan with defensive weapons.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel