My Take | With friends like the US, Taiwan doesn’t need enemies
- Pentagon honcho encourages a Taiwanese guerrilla war against the PLA. If it’s just about spilling Chinese blood in another civil war, that’s more than okay for those Americans
The United States is considering helping Taiwan wage guerrilla, or irregular, warfare against an invading People’s Liberation Army. So, it’s worth working out what this will mean in cross-straits relations vis-à-vis the US. Truth be told, the Taiwanese should now be very afraid with friends like the Americans.
During a US congressional hearing, Christopher Maier, nominee for assistant secretary of defence for special operations and low-intensity conflict, said the US should strongly consider an effort to help Taiwan strengthen its ability to conduct irregular warfare.
“That is something that we should be considering strongly as we think about competition across the span of different capabilities we can apply, [special forces] being a key contributor to that,” he said.
US Senator Josh Hawley supported his strategy. But if the island needs to launch a guerrilla war, it means the PLA has already invaded it, and will proceed to the occupation phase.
So, what of the billions and billions of dollars of military hardware sold by Washington to Taiwan over the years? Scrap metal? Sorry, Taiwan, they are really no good for a conventional war.