China is sending record numbers of military aircraft to threaten Taiwan, warning “war may be triggered at any time” and asking the island democracy’s allies if they want to “become cannon fodder.”
Team Biden’s response: Happy talk of how China’s president-for-life promised a month ago to keep the peace and having the Pentagon shift from Trump-era “great power competition” to “strategic competition” that “does not, and should not, preclude working with China.”
Ouch. Talk of “peace in our time” is exactly the wrong answer to China’s “We’re ready to rumble” message. Washington needs to act, and now, to get Beijing to back down.
On Oct. 1, the Chinese Communists’ National Day, Beijing flew 38 planes through Taiwan’s air-defense identification zone, a record — until it flew 39 the next day. Over four days, the People’s Liberation Army sent 150 fighter jets, nuclear-capable bombers, anti-sub aircraft and other warplanes into the face of the free nation it vows “will never be allowed to secede.”
Biden’s State Department response: “The United States is very concerned.”
Oy. These sorties aren’t just intimidation: They’re target practice, training for China’s air force and a way to wear out Taiwan’s smaller, older force.
More threats: The “situation across the Taiwan Straits has almost lost any room for maneuver teetering on the edge of a face-off, creating a sense of urgency that the war may be triggered at any time,” warned the editors of the state-owned Global Times.
Beijing’s mouthpiece also asserted that “the new mainstream public opinion on the Chinese mainland” wants “earnest preparations based on the possibility of combat,” and told Taiwan and its allies: “Do not continue to play with fire.”
Plus a tweet: “Since Taiwan authorities are preparing for war, let’s see whether Australia is willing to accompany Taiwan separatist regime to become cannon fodder.”
Just to be clear: There’s no way the island would start a war with a nation that has not only a far larger army, navy and air force — but also nukes.
Chiu Kuo-cheng, Taiwan’s defense minister and a retired general, calls the situation “the most severe in the 40 years since I’ve enlisted.” He predicts China will be able to invade within four years.
Yet President Biden, fresh off springing the Huawei executive suspected of enabling Beijing’s cyberwarfare, remains unworried. Tuesday he referred reporters to his Sept. 9 phone call with President Xi Jinping: “We agree we will abide by the Taiwan agreement. That’s where we are.”
Taiwan is stepping up to modernize its forces, boosting defense spending by $8.6 billion over the next five years. But the nation of 23.6 million needs help to stave off one of 1.4 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that a US special-operations unit and some Marines have been secretly training Taiwan forces for a year — but the force is tiny, about two dozen troops.
Washington needs to help Taiwan become a nut too tough to crack, with stronger air and cyber defenses, more anti-ship missiles and mines — and supplies to withstand a blockade.
Biden must stand up to a dictatorship that’s intent on dominating not just an independent island but the world. What does Beijing have to do to wake him up?