The new House committee on China is preparing proposals on ways to rapidly arm Taiwan and boost up American stockpiles of long-range missiles, Defense News reported on Thursday.
The steps come after the committee, which is led by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), participated in war games that simulated a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, an unusual move for members of Congress that highlights how the US government is preparing for a future war with China.
Gallagher told Defense News that his committee was looking to insert provisions into the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). “We’re hoping to get consensus on a series of proposals that the committee can endorse that would be tailor-made for insertion into this year’s,” he said.
The 2023 NDAA included $3 billion in unprecedented military aid for Taiwan, including $2 billion in Foreign Military Financing and $1 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority. But the $3 billion for Taiwan was not included in the 2023 appropriations bill.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said he wants to use the $1 billion in drawdown authority to arm Taiwan but is waiting for the funds to be appropriated. The China committee is expected to work to get such funds appropriated, and Gallagher said he wants to speed up arms sales to Taiwan.
Gallagher and other China hawks complain that there’s a $19 billion backlog of unfulfilled weapons deals for Taiwan going back to 2019, but arms sales typically take years to be completed. Gallagher said Taiwan should be given priority for certain weapons, including Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
Gallagher also wants the US to invest more in its own long-range missiles as the US quickly ran out of them during the war game. “We need about 1,000 to 12,000 [long-range anti-ship missiles] if you believe the unclassified wargame. Our inventory is less than 250, and we’re just not producing them at a rapid rate. I believe we can get up to above 200 a year,” he said.
The war game was conducted with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a hawkish think tank that receives funding from US arms makers and the Taiwanese government through the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Taiwan’s de facto embassy.
Gallagher and other China hawks are rushing to arm Taiwan in the name of deterrence, but China’s actions have made clear they view increasing US support as a major provocation, and it will make a conflict more likely.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f4012df37582dc0dc757874d006f35146208ab540cd44d0a92e224b6bd510057.jpg
For PEACE.
Come on, people, the US (like most of the world) doesn’t recognize ROC as a state and you want to give them military aid? That’s not even legal under the UN Charter. How about instead appropriating some billions for Americans, like homeless men, women and children, people that you “represent?”
How about shoring up Social Security, grant Medicare for all, raise the Federal Minimum Wage to $15 per hour, repair infrastructure, for starters.
How about paying down the National Debt?
A good idea, but who will have to pay if not the middle class?
I think the generation that is responsible for increasing the national debt should start paying it off instead of passing it on to future generations. Maybe if the middle class has to pay for it, they will vote differently.
The people who have increased the “national debt” aren’t a generation. They’re a small, easily identifiable rotating body of individuals collectively known as “Congress.” Seizing all their sh*t and auctioning it off wouldn’t make much of a debt in the tab they’ve run up. But it would be a good idea on principle. And I have no problem with their creditors taking a loss. When you loan money to someone whose only collateral is “I’m a mugger with a lot of potential victims,” you deserve to lose every last penny.
“They’re a small, easily identifiable rotating body of individuals collectively known as “Congress.”
And those Congress Critters were elected by the people. In America, the teat suckers outnumber the teats, and they vote for all the free goodies they can get. The Bankers are more than happy to take advantage of the teats that pay.
Congress is elected by those who choose to, and are allowed to, vote, and who choose to vote for the winning candidate. So usually about 20-25% of “the people.”
Which is more “democratic” than the US Constitution, which was ratified by a tiny fraction of 1% of “We The People.”
I think the middle class, as always, will have yo pay the bill regardless of who gets elected. The elite starts and profits from wars and the people foot the bill. I think they want to reduce SNAP, of course, a good way to start.
Did Biden and the Democrats honor a single campaign promise? I don’t recall any. I can’t recall any domestic policy success either. The wealthiest need to start to pay their fair share of taxes, after all they are the biggest benefactors. The political/corporate millionaires elite got their war and we, the people, pay the bill, Manchin is a member and he made sure his and his family’s interests are protected.
What does legal have to do with it anyway? The USA/NATO is a rogue alliance, all it has done has been illegal and now it is on the path to collapse. It started with the self destruction of the EU and NATO which will leave the US blowing in the wind when it ends. Like the UK, it takes a long time. They have been at it since the end of Vietnam, it has been a steady downhill battle ever since. They blew the big opportunity after the fall of the Wall. Delusion of Grandeur is the downfall of the empire, like so many before them.
The US can arm Taiwan to the teeth it won`t save them if China decides to invaded , if the leaders of Taiwan are as smart as they think they are they would begin talking to the Chinese leader ship and not the war mongering yanks .
Invasion would be difficult, as the Taiwan strait is a rough body of water much of the year. That’s a shame ‘cuz the ROC army sucks. . . .Present thinking includes a blockade, and gray areas such as political, cyber and economics.
China could “win” by the next elections, or by a blockade. It need not ever “invade.” Taiwan functions on about two weeks ready supply of energy and food, totally dependent on trade by sea and air. Furthermore, much of what Taiwan depends on comes from — Mainland China.
This is a lot of fuss about something that is not the real problem. Worse, it aggravates the situation for things that are the real problem. It is causing allies to question, and causing local Taiwan factions to explore alternatives. It is sharpening the real dangers.
The PRC could certainly hurt Taiwan with an embargo (cutting off access to Chinese imports).
The only thing the PRC would accomplish with a blockade would be to get the choice of losing 1) face or 2) its navy and air force.
US wargaming is reported otherwise. This is the US worst case.
Greed and power is their guiding light too.
There seems to be no real strategy guiding US efforts. Or if there is, then they are fools.
Why not both?
What should be obvious from the Ukraine experience is that the US does not have the military capabilities it pretends to have. It has a high tech sanctions machine, yes, but this is not the same as an army. In terms of defense the US has nothing but nukes, on close inspection. The most likely scenario for the future is a false flag nuclear incident which will be blamed on Russia, just as the destruction of Nord Stream was blamed on Russia.
I am not looking to defend the US, and it’s military by any means but I assure you it has the capabilities. I’m afraid to say that is does, and I’m afraid if they are to be used. The US Navy is a very, very dangerous capability.
Sure. America has eleven nuclear aircraft carriers and counting. And it has umpteen fighter jets and bombers. It is a naval and air power without equal. However, these assets are of little use in a land war. The aircraft carriers are easy targets for todays missiles and if you look carefully you really have to search hard to see where any of these have been of vital use. They are used for sorties against defenseless countries in the middle east and Africa. But how would they fare against China? Scary to even think about. The one thing they can do is deliver nukes, which comes to the point of what American power is based on: in the final analysis: nothing more than nukes. The army cannot fight and is having trouble recruiting soldiers; that is the reality. Listening to empty headed morons in the administration, we are the mightiest military force in the world. But Putin called the bluff. We cannot fight. The horrible question is: at what point is the anger in the USA so great that it unleashes its nukes? Of course we know who will be blamed, just as we know who was blamed for the Russian “invasion” of Ukraine. But there are voices such as John Mearsheimer who tell it like it is: the US is primarily responsible for the Ukraine war. When will the Ukrainians themselves get rid of their own coup-imposed leaders? I am not talking of Zelensky. He is obviously, IMO, the village idiot who is doing the dirty work for unidentified thugs with a gun at his back. Yes I know this makes for pretty sickening reading. I love America. I have great faith in America. But it needs an inside-out enema.
Zelensky is a smart and corrupt village idiot and the Biden administration is much the same.
How can the insane Biden administration win any war if the leader and his neocon team is so deranged they go to war using a proxy and at the same time destroy the NATO alliance militarily and economically , while Russia the enemy is increasing friendly nations and allies? China and India combined, the two most populous nations, support Russia. The USA managed to destroy the credibility of all international institutions, has demolished nuclear agreements and goes around bullying smaller nations to support USA interests.
At no time in history was there a more stupid government than this idiotic Biden neocon cabal.
Maybe I am wrong, but I don’t know of any government more stupid.
The real danger is the deranged Biden neocon government without any opposition or even critic at all.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), participated in war games that simulated a Chinese invasion of Taiwan
right. how many war games did they simulate of a russian invasion of ukraine when they started arming ukraine.
hey too bad for hawaii that nobody armed them back in 1898.
A PRC blockade would quickly bring ROC to its knees, because the US carriers must stay outside the 2000km (1200mi) range of China’s Dong Feng 21 ballistic missile which employs a complex guidance system, low radar signature and a maneuverability that makes its flight path unpredictable. This means that US fighter aircraft must be refueled in flight, and the refueler aircraft are large fat targets. The principal US strategy now is to have Marine platoons and companies skipping from island to island with large weapons, which is silly.
That said, Beijing has a box-full of other options to take over its off-shore island Taiwan, gray-area options like cyber, politics, and economy.
. . .from Taipei Times, Apr 29: GDP declines 3.02% amid chip slump
SHARPEST DROP SINCE 2009: The decline was more than twice as steep as expected by economists and prompted the DGBAS to slash its full-year growth forecast to 1.67%. The Taiwanese economy shrank at the sharpest pace since 2009, recording its second quarter of contraction in a row as a plunge in global demand for chips showed little sign of abating.
The newest weapons contract that was just announced around a month ago for some missiles is to be completed in 2029. There are other contracts from previous years that are said to be several years out before the stuff arrives.
Anything that comes out of this newest effort will take years to happen.
I’m more interested in how we are removing chip manufacturing (and where it goes) than new upcoming arms that will take too long to appear to matter. Also the way other industries prepare (I bet the Chinese already own a lot of stuff) for the inevitable ought to be interesting as well.
Besides it will likely be a political resolution (or an appearence it being a mutual agreement by ‘equals’ when there was some arm twisting) way before anyone invades.
Here’s a good article on the ‘chip world.’ . .”US officials scramble to slow China’s advances. . .Beijing’s diplomatic and business gains this year have been so great as to prompt panic in Washington”