Washington Quietly Boosts Taiwan’s Defenses Against China

Gradually, almost imperceptibly, Washington is increasing Taiwan’s defenses even as Beijing presses its vow to recover the island province and fortifies its claim with intermittent intimidation exercises at sea and in the air.The greater the danger that China will try to make good on its threats, the more assistance the Americans are promising Taiwan. The rising American presence isn’t exactly a secret, but neither the White House nor the Pentagon are putting out press releases boasting about all they’re doing to defend the self-governing province. In the latest sign of Washington’s mounting concern, senior American and Taiwanese officials met for seven hours this week to map out what looks like gradual escalation of American aid, including a plan to send more military advisers to the island and to train more Taiwanese troops on bases in America. That’s on top of about $10 billion in military aid that Washington is extending to Taiwan this year. Adding to questions about what’s going on, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, Michael Chase, has just visited Taiwan. The Americans had nothing to say about his visit, but a Chinese spokesman, attacking such “interaction,” said it contributed to “a new round of tensions.”One topic that had to have come up in all the interplay between Washington and Taipei was that the number of military advisers will rise to about 200, which would not appear huge but is a number of times larger than the 30 on the island a year or two ago. The Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed officials acknowledging the plan to increase the small advisory force, made up of Marines and Army special forces.The White House and the Pentagon danced gingerly around whether Washington was quite suddenly deepening its longstanding, oft-stated “commitment” to Taiwan.They wanted everyone to believe there was nothing new while neither confirming nor denying they were talking intensely about upgradingTaiwan’s defense. The assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific, Daniel Kritenbrink, responded with diplomatic double-talk to an inquiry from the military newspaper Stars and Stripes when asked what’s really going on.“There’s been no change to America’s one China policy,” he was quoted as saying, meaning the province as always is viewed as part of China, “but we continue to engage with Taiwan,” with which Washington has “a robust, unofficial relationship.”The assistant defense secretary for Indo-Pacific security, Ely Ratner, maintained the Americans were “working to maintain open lines of communications” with the Chinese but acknowledged Washington has been “disappointed about China’s unwillingness to engage,” Stars and Stripes reported.Chances of American and Chinese defense officials getting together for a cordial chat about tensions in the 90-mile-wide straits between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland have decreased markedly since that Chinese “weather balloon” was found wafting across North America earlier this month. Analysts are still scouring gear recovered from the balloon, shot down off the South Carolina coast, to see what secrets it was transmitting.As Washington raised the stakes on Taiwan, Beijing and Moscow moved closer together. There’s even talk that China’s president, Xi Jinping, may go to Russia for a summit with President Putin. Mr. Putin saw China’s top foreign affairs official, Wang Yi, who masterminds foreign policy for the Chinese Communist Party, a post that carries more authority than that of foreign minister.Presumably Mr. Putin is hoping for Chinese aid, notably much needed weaponry for Russian forces in Ukraine. China has neither confirmed plans for a Putin-Xi summit nor mentioned military aid, but the Americans are saying they’ve heard they’re weighing the possibilities.The NATO secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, in an interview with the Associated Press, said there were “some signs” that China may be planning to provide military aid to Russia, in “blatant violation of international law” and China’s place on the United Nations Security Council.

Washington Quietly Boosts Taiwan’s Defenses Against China

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