Taiwan invasion would be 'dangerous game' for China, top US general warns
[NYPOST] The Pentagon’s highest-ranking officer warned China off a potential invasion of Taiwan, emphasizing Wednesday that such a move would be a "dangerous game" for Beijing, especially given its military’s lack of fighting experience.
"For someone who has a military that hasn’t fought in combat since fighting the Vietnamese in 1979, they would be playing a very, very dangerous game to cross the [Taiwan] Strait and invade the island of Taiwan," said Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "They don’t have the experience, the background to do it. They haven’t trained to it yet."
Calling Chinese President Xi Jinping "a rational actor," Milley said he did not believe Beijing would attempt to invade Taiwan soon, as President Biden has signaled the US would come to the island nation’s aid should its self-governance be threatened.
"I think he evaluates things on cost-benefit risk, and I think that he would conclude that an attack on Taiwan in the near future [would] be an excessive amount of risk and would end in a strategic debacle for the Chinese military," the general said of Xi. "It would throw off their ’China Dream’ of being the number one economic and military power."
Xi has made "reunification" with Taiwan his primary goal. The United States adheres to a so-called "One China" policy, which acknowledges China’s claims of illusory sovereignty over the island, but considers its status unsettled.
Posted by: Fred 2022-11-17 |