Former Trump administration official and U.S.-China Commission member Cliff Sims said Thursday that during the public hearing China has refuted claims that the U.S. determination to support Ukraine is more important than U.S. military strength in deterring China’s invasion of Taiwan.
During the hearing, Marianne Kibrehan-Wise, director of the China Research Program at the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA), said that even if it meant sending Taiwan the same weapons it needed to deter and win, also recommended that the United States continue to provide weapons to Ukraine. During a military conflict with China.
Sims, a former deputy director of national intelligence, questioned this logic.
What do you make of the tension between increasing aid to Ukraine, which sends a message to China, and the possibility that that aid could stretch America’s limited capabilities and thereby make our country more vulnerable?
In other words, is there not a very real possibility that showing resolve in Ukraine today will undermine our physical ability to respond to the Taiwan crisis tomorrow? Because they may assess that we will respond, that we are determined to respond, but in reality, they are physically unable to do so. Don’t you react?
Kibrehan-Wise said Beijing is monitoring U.S. actions regarding support for Ukraine to determine whether the U.S. can sustain its forces in a protracted conflict, and if the U.S. is unable to do so, will continue to monitor U.S. actions regarding Taiwan. He claimed to believe that China has more staying power in a conflict.
“We would like to emphasize that China is currently observing U.S. actions and discussions regarding support for Ukraine and is using them to determine whether the U.S. can sustain its forces in a protracted conflict. “This judgment will influence whether we believe we will be successful in our conflict with Taiwan.”
China launched its largest-ever invasion of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Sunday. https://t.co/TH1FMXMP27
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 26, 2022
Sims told her on a Chinese open source forum about the US sending weapons to Ukraine that Taiwan also needs to counter the Chinese military, including ATACMS, Javelins, Patriots, Stingers and other missile systems. I asked him specifically what he saw.
Kibrehan-Wise reiterated that the Chinese side is discussing whether the U.S. can maintain support for Ukraine as a “key measure” of whether the U.S. can maintain staying power in the event of a Taiwan conflict. Ta.
Sims then asked whether China is prioritizing America’s determination to support Ukraine over its ability to support Taiwan. Kibrehan-Wise said the Chinese were judging “both.”
Related: Never again…Chinese navy ships harass US destroyer during Taiwan Strait exercises
Mr. Sims asked how the Chinese evaluate the United States’ ability to support Taiwan.
Kibrehan-Wise reiterated that the Chinese are “watching what’s happening in Washington right now, and that’s informing their decisions.”
Mr. Sims again asked her about the United States’ determination to support Ukraine versus its diminished ability to support Taiwan. Kibrehan-Wise again said the Chinese side was considering “both” its determination and ability to assist in a protracted conflict.
Sims once again tried to pinpoint her answer as to which is more important to China.
Ten Chinese fighter jets have crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, the official barrier between Chinese and Taiwanese militaries, for the second time in less than a week. https://t.co/mohokNJnQV
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 12, 2023
“What Taiwan needs is exactly what we are providing to Ukraine, and therefore our ability to provide it to Taiwan is diminished, and by supporting Ukraine we are diminishing our ability to do so.” I’m just trying to follow the logic that if you don’t, they’re going to judge you,’” he said.
Kibrehan-Wise said China is “probably” assessing how the U.S. defense industrial base is meeting Ukraine’s arms needs, and that supporting that need will help the U.S. “We may be in a good position” to produce more weapons, he said.
Sims concluded:
My take on this is simply to bring this back to the old high school locker room analogy: “The loudest person in the room is usually the weakest person in the room.” I think. And to symbolically show support and determination versus the ability to actually deliver on the guarantees we gave Taiwan…I think one is more important than the other. So I find it hard to believe that the Chinese place so much weight on determination over ability in their evaluations.
The theme of the panel discussion was “Countering China’s military strategy” in the South China Sea.
Kibrehan-Wise’s employer, CNA, is funded by the U.S. military and its analysis is influential in informing U.S. military readiness.
According to recent information, foreign affairs According to the article, there is considerable overlap in the weapons needed by Ukraine and Taiwan to fight aggressors Russia and China.
article Said The weapons the United States needs to defend against China’s “initial air and naval attack” on Taiwan are different from those sent to Ukraine, but once Chinese troops are on Taiwan, the weapons will be the same. Dew.
“These weapons include a variety of missiles and missile systems such as ATACMS, Javelin, Patriot and Stinger. Supply is becoming increasingly limited, due in part to Ukrainian demand,” the paper said, adding: he added.
There are already signs of competition over certain assets between Taiwan and Ukraine. For example, in 2022, Taiwan had to purchase additional HIMARS multiple rocket artillery to compensate for delays in the Paladin mobile howitzer, a weapon the United States had given to Ukraine.
Furthermore, “the weapons that Washington and its allies are sending to Ukraine are increasingly the very weapons that Taiwan wants most. They include not only HIMARS, but also Abrams tanks, F-16 fighter jets, and ATACMS.” The backlog in U.S. weapons deliveries to Taiwan has grown to more than $19 billion and predates the Russian invasion, but Western support for Ukraine has exacerbated the problem.
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