In an op-ed for The New York Times, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for a major increase in US support for Taiwan that would overhaul US policy toward the island.
Menendez said that the US can’t make the same “mistake” with Taiwan that it did with Ukraine. He argued that the US didn’t support Kyiv enough to prevent a Russian invasion, even though it’s clear that US meddling in Ukraine was one of President Vladimir Putin’s main motivations for launching the invasion.
“A clear lesson from the war in Ukraine is that authoritarian leaders have been emboldened in recent years by dysfunctional democracies and hesitant international institutions. Accordingly, the United States needs less ambiguity to guide our approach to Taiwan,” Menendez wrote.
The current US policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan means that Washington won’t say one way or another if it will intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion. But Menendez wants to change that and is also looking to start sending Taiwan billions of dollars in military aid.
Menendez and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) recently introduced the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, which would designate Taiwan as a “major non-NATO ally,” authorize $4.5 billion in military aid for the island over four years, and require economic sanctions in response to a Chinese attack.
Menendez said the legislation “would be the most comprehensive restructuring of US policy toward Taiwan since the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.” The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was set to review the bill on Wednesday, but the review has been delayed.
While Menendez said the legislation is necessary for deterrence, it would only make war in the region more likely. Chinese officials have warned that US support for Taiwan’s “independence forces” would lead to war, and they would view the bill as a major shift away from the one-China policy.
Who is more senile than Pelosi and Biden? Menendez is really gunning for that title. A clear lesson from Ukraine is the utter failure of U.S. foreign policy as American provocations and crossing Russia’s red lines led directly to war. Menendez literally learned the opposite lesson and wants to lead us into a more devastating war over Taiwan when changing nothing would’ve kept peace.
I just read his bio, another 40 years veteran monster of the political swamp. I expected as much.
Swamps are lovely things, if you are the creature from the black lagoon…
He needs to be retired.
F&ck Menendez.
He’s one of the biggest Deep State warmongers in Congress, and he wouldn’t be in the position he holds, if he wasn’t.
Not if but when China invades Taiwan, some personalities declaring they’re antiwar-but-only-on-technicalities will probably call it “an unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression.” Taiwan is 81 miles from China and full of Chinese, while Hawaii is 2500 miles from US coast and full of… Hawaiians. Hawaii was not part of the US until 1893: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overthrow_of_the_Hawaiian_Kingdom. Even with all that, would we allow another country to help Hawaii declare its independence today?
“Not if but when China invades Taiwan, some personalities declaring they’re antiwar-but-only-on-technicalities will immediately start claiming that it’s really someone else’s fault because any regime that is not the US regime is never, ever, ever responsible for what it does if it claims it was ‘provoked.'”
Fixed, no charge.
Haha. You’re the expert but I clearly didn’t say what you “fixed free of charge.” I guess I got exactly what I paid for. I’m against war. But I also don’t see the other guys regime changing other countries while claiming supreme “moral superiority.” They might call it “Special Military Operation,” but so far they’re not “humanitarian” enough to declare it, “Operation Ukrainian/Taiwanese Freedom.” I see you also ignored the discussion regarding Hawaii. But seriously, you don’t see how Pelosi or Menendez are provoking China? Wow… I totally thought that was their intention.
The Russian regime (and its supporters) do almost nothing BUT declare “moral superiority.” One main purpose of the “special military operation” (don’t call it a “war” or “invasion” if you live in Russia and don’t want to go to jail) is, in theory, to liberate the Donbas on behalf of ethnic Russians oppressed by the current regime.
Yes, I’m aware that Pelosi and Menendez are “provoking” China, or at least attempting to. And if Xi decides to invade Taiwan, it will be Xi who decided to invade Taiwan, and Xi who is responsible for ordering the invasion of Taiwan. Yes, he’ll have excuses. Excuses are like assholes. Everybody’s got one and they all stink.
Provoke or don’t provoke. There is no attempt. I took liberty with Yoda’s quote. I think it’s more than “attempting to” provoke, but you’re the expert. I also don’t live in Russia and have no excuse to be an a$$hole. LOL
Do your left-wing buddies at Counterpuch and such really believe this garbage you spew? The Russian “regime”? Really?
To be fair, he calls all governments regimes. And he’s right.
You’d have to ask my “left-wing buddies.” Counterpunch is one of about 1,400 publications I submit my three columns per week to. Sometimes they run those columns, just like sometimes USA Today, the Orange County Register, the Dallas Morning News, and the Batesville, Mississippi Panolian do.
You think like a child, and a not very intelligent child at that.
Menendez and Sen. Lindsey Graham need to sink into oblivion for the sake of us all.
Menendez and Graham are owned by the neocons. They need 1) China provoked, 2) Taiwan invaded, 3) a US conventional military response, 4) a number of US ships sunk, including nuclear carriers, and 5) a limited US nuclear response, following which Israel will 6) nuke Bushehr and the rest of the Iranian nuclear program. They’re at 1, if they can get to 2 the rest should go like clockwork, assuming it doesn’t escalate out of control, which is an acceptable risk.
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would entail 1) airborne and amphibious landings, 2) establishing air superiority over the island, and 3) establishing a naval and air blockade of the island. Any US intervention would have to start at 3, and there’s no grey. Big US ships would go down. US response with nuclear weapons would be the only alternative to obvious defeat. Remember the Maine, Pearl Harbor, and the Gulf of Tonkin.
While it’s possible that the Chinese might defeat the US at sea, it seems unlikely. They’re just now starting to build a blue-water Navy of any consequence, and if you look up their anti-ship missiles, the performance of those missiles so far, both in combat and in demonstrations for sales purposes, has been relatively mediocre.
They also seem to have relatively few large troop transport ships and amphibious landing craft versus the size required for an overwhelming landing force, even assuming those ships would survive the cross-strait voyage.
Could they take Taiwan? Yes.
Could they take Taiwan without a fight? No, not even if the US didn’t intervene directly, and not without a severe fight if the US did intervene directly. And once they took it, the clock would start running on their version of e.g. the US occupation of Afghanistan. Which seems to be what the US is hoping for.
I don’t see it being a ship on ship fight, more Chinese missiles vs. US ships. The big threat may be repurposed ballistic missiles, and if those are operational that’s probably the ball game. Otherwise I think enough of anything will do the job, and if you want to know about Chinese production volume go to Walmart. The Chinese for their part aren’t going to run out of continent.
How bloody will it be on Taiwan? Most grunts will know the only two ways it will end is with them either alive or dead. The actual indigenous locals, however many are left, would as soon shoot both sides I expect. The comfortable want to stay that way. On the other hand we’re talking about humanity, and Asian warfare in particular isn’t known for its tidiness. I’m betting somewhere between Hong Kong and Nanjing.
You are completely delusional. No one is saying the Chinese navy would defeat the US navy in the middle of the Pacific. This is right off China’s coast. The US surface fleet would be SUNK.
And then this silliness that Taiwan would turn into Afghanistan for China. Foolishness. Has Hong Kong turned into Afghanistan? I think you know very little about Chinese people…
“I think”
The jury’s still out on that one, but the evidence of your writing doesn’t make a very convincing case.
A wild card is Japan. Okinawa has the only non Chinese runways within effective strike fighter range of the war zone. Without taking a poll, my guess is the Japanese populace has been nuked enough, thank you very much, and would like to sit this one out. As for the Japanese government, probably their only real choice, if they have one, is whether or not they want their runways cratered.
I see the Les Nessman clone isn’t just an Israeli firster.
Taiwan is a done deal, China will assimilate the Island in the next 12 months.
The Pelosi effect.