Defending Taiwan and containing China among key US aims, declassified file shows
A newly declassified file revealed that the United States set out a strategy about three years ago to contain growing threats from China in the Asia-Pacific region.
The strategy included helping Taiwan to become capable of ensuring its own security and engaging mainland China on its own terms.
Another key objective was to prevent China’s industrial policies and unfair trading practices from distorting global markets and harming U.S. competitiveness.
The White House had prepared the document as a briefing to implement an Indo-Pacific strategy endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump in early 2018, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The briefing, contained in more than 10 partially redacted pages, was previously classified as “secret” and “not for foreign nationals.” It was officially declassified last week, 30 years earlier than would normally be the case, the broadcaster said.
On the issue of Taiwan, the U.S. wanted to help the island develop an effective asymmetric defense strategy and capabilities that could ensure its security, resilience and freedom from coercion, according to the document.
Washington should also devise and implement a defense strategy that could deny China sustained air and sea dominance inside the Asia-Pacific’s “first island chain” in a conflict; defend regions inside the island chain, including Taiwan; and dominate all domains outside the island chain, it said.
The U.S. should work closely with allies and like-minded countries to prevent Chinese acquisition of military and strategic capabilities, broaden the scope of foreign investment oversight to cover joint ventures and other forms of Chinese investment, and promote domestic growth in key technologies, the document said.
An Australian national security expert said the briefing was highly significant and its early release was extraordinary.
“It’s a signal about the kind of continuity that the permanent government of America, or if you like the officials, want to see in America’s relations with the Indo-Pacific, including in managing China’s power,” said Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at Australian National University.
Meanwhile, new missiles developed by China and Russia had posed a threat to U.S. aircraft carrier combat groups, American news website BusinessInsider said in a recent report.
The test launches of China’s DF-21 and DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missiles and Russia’s Zircon hypersonic cruise missile last year suggested American aircraft carriers might soon face a real threat to their existence, the report said.
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