As China becomes increasingly aggressive toward Taiwan
The United States is preparing for a possible war
And is sending troops to Taiwan
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
Taiwan, an independent, democratic country, is at risk of falling to authoritarianism.
The Chinese Communist Party, despite never actually governing the island of Taiwan,
considers it part of its territory.
Taiwan represents a crucial strategic position in Asia.
If the People's Republic of China is able to take the island, it can project military power outwards
into the Pacific, while securing control of the waters of the East China Sea and South China Sea.
For years the Chinese Communist Party tried to use economic leverage to gain
influence in Taiwan, even suggesting it could be governed under the One Country,
Two Systems model, the same one the CCP uses in Hong Kong.
That didn’t work out too well for Hong Kong, as I saw first hand in 2019.
Which is why the Communist Party “has vowed to take control of [Taiwan]—if necessary, by force.”
Over the past several years, China’s People’s Liberation Army has made
incursions near Taiwan—and they’ve gotten larger, more frequent, and more aggressive.
Last summer, after then-US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan,
China launched live fire drills and missiles around Taiwan...
“in what amount[ed] to a temporary blockade as some ship and air traffic [were] warned away.”
At this point, China has thrown so many temper tantrums that it doesn’t even faze
Taiwan anymore. They’re like, “Are you done? Cool. Flight’s taking off in five, gang.”
Last month, Chinese vessels even severed several undersea internet cables connecting to Taiwan.
In the face of all this, the United States is
becoming an increasingly staunch supporter of Taiwan. So staunch…
that the US still doesn’t officially recognize Taiwan.
Which is like seeing a kid getting bullied and saying, “I got your back, Kyle.”
“My name is Brian.” “Whatever, Kyle.”
But the US does have a law called the Taiwan Relations Act.
It says the US is committed to the preservation of human rights there,
and that the US will not only arm Taiwan for its self-defense,
but also “resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would
jeopardize the security, or social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan.”
The US is willing to arm the country of Taiwan and even possibly fight to protect
the country of Taiwan. They’ll do just about everything except say “Taiwan is a country.”
The US has been backing up their words with action, though.
The Trump Administration deployed about
two dozen US special forces to Taiwan to train local marines.
The Biden Administration doubled that number.
How nice to see that Taiwan is something that even Trump and
Biden agree on. Sad that it has to be something that could spark World War 3.
More recently the US has also been building up its military
bases and troop presence in the areas around Taiwan—the Philippines, Guam,
and Japan. For more on that check out this recent episode. I’ll put a link below.
And now, the US is directly increasing its military presence in Taiwan itself,
by quadrupling the number of troops there. I’ll tell you more after the break.
Welcome back.
As China becomes more aggressive, the US is “more than quadrupling
the current number” of troops deployed in Taiwan.
Now these aren’t big numbers. A year ago there were roughly 30 US troops deployed in Taiwan.
Now “The U.S. plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the island in the coming months.”
I’ve seen more people at a showing of Morbius. During the re-release.
But even one to two hundred troops is valuable. It’s the largest deployment of
US troops in Taiwan for decades. With more US troops deployed in Taiwan, any attempts
by the Chinese Communist Party to attack runs a greater risk of killing American soldiers. Which
could trigger war with the United States. That’s something the CCP desperately wants to avoid.
The US troops seem to be composed of special operation forces and
marines. They’re there to train Taiwanese soldiers.
And in addition to conducting training in Taiwan, “The Michigan National Guard is also
training a contingent of the Taiwanese military, including during annual exercises with multiple
countries at Camp Grayling in northern Michigan, according to people familiar with the training.”
And if there’s anything to fight for, it’s the beautiful Michigan scenery.
The training will be focused “not only on U.S. weapons systems but on military
maneuvers to protect against a potential Chinese offensive.”
The Pentagon has in the past been in favor of a porcupine strategy for Taiwan—essentially
arming it up so much that any attempt by China to attack would be too painful.
Which makes more sense than what I originally thought “porcupine strategy” meant. Which was
air-dropping porcupines. I think that’d be just as effective, though.
Officials say the troop increase was planned for months, so it was
not a response to the recent Chinese spy balloon.
But the timing is a bit suspicious, given that the best defense against a balloon would be
porcupines.
The Pentagon didn’t comment directly on the troop increase. But a Pentagon spokesman did
say “Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the
maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region.”
Taiwan’s foreign minister and National Security
Council chief also met with high level US officials in Washington recently,
so it definitely seems like the US believes the threat of Chinese invasion is a real possibility.
I know to many that sounds unbelievable, but remember,
the US was warning Russia would invade Ukraine for quite some time before it actually happened,
and a lot of people didn’t believe that either.
Because who could possibly imagine brutal authoritarians with a history
of human rights violations doing something so rude? Invade a sovereign nation? Noooo.
That doesn’t sound like something Putin would do… again.
But the US is trying to play a delicate balancing game.
The goal is to show enough support for Taiwan to deter the China from invading,
but not so much support that it *triggers* China to invade.
One of the officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal said,
“One of the difficult things to determine is what really is objectionable to China.”
Um, that’s not difficult at all. The only thing that’s objectionable to China… is *everything*.
Mystery solved. The official continued,
“We don’t think at the levels that we’re engaged in and are likely to
remain engaged in the near future that we are anywhere close to a tipping point for China,
but that’s a question that is constantly being evaluated and looked at specifically
with every decision involving support to Taiwan.”
For instance, if the US did formally recognize Taiwan as a country,
would the Chinese Communist Party respond with an invasion?
That’s why these decisions can’t be made unilaterally, but in communication with Taiwan.
Then again, there’s always the possibility that Taiwan will decide it’s time to retake
the Mainland. And we’ve anticipated this extremely unlikely scenario with these absolutely real West
Taiwan travel posters that you can buy right now on our website, Chinauncensored.tv/merchandise
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Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.