U.S. General gives Stark Warning About Pace of Preparing Taiwan For Attack

A U.S. general reportedly issued a warning Wednesday about the pace of preparations for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

General David Berger, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, told a group of reporters that "everybody around this table should not be comfortable with where we are or the rate at which we're moving" on the Taiwan preparations, according to Liz Friden, a Pentagon producer for Fox News.

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is located in the western Pacific Ocean and has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. But Chinese officials have repeatedly stressed that in spite of this independent governance, they view Taiwan as an "inalienable" part of China.

In October last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke in favor of a "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan, though he has also stated that China would "never promise to renounce the use of force" against Taiwan. China's military drills near Taiwan over recent years have sparked discussions about whether—and when—it could take aggressive action against the island.

After U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in early August during a tour of Asia, which she did not confirm prior to arriving on the island, China announced that it would conduct a series of military drills around Taiwan in response. As unverified news reports of Pelosi's Taiwan visit circulated prior to the trip, Chinese officials strongly urged against it.

"The U.S. must not arrange for Speaker Pelosi to visit the Taiwan region and must stop official interactions with Taiwan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at the time. "Should the U.S. side insist on doing otherwise, China will take strong and resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The U.S. must assume full responsibility for any ensuing consequences."

Pelosi evidently did not heed this warning, and upon her arrival in Taiwan, China's People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command spokesperson Senior Colonel Shi Yi said that the resulting drills were "targeted at the U.S.' shocking recent major escalation on the Taiwan issue and serves as a serious warning to 'Taiwan independence' forces or those seeking 'independence.'"

U.S. President Joe Biden said during an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes in September that the U.S. would come to Taiwan's defense in the event of an "unprecedented attack." Still, Colin Kahl, the Pentagon's undersecretary of defense for policy, undercut speculation about an imminent Chinese invasion of the island last month.

"I don't think in the next couple of years they're likely to invade Taiwan. But you never know," Kahl said at a November 4 Brookings Institution event.

"I don't think that Xi Jinping has made a decision to force reunification. But he has certainly given his military the charge to have that capability by the end of this decade and probably by 2027," Kahl added.

A U.S. Defense Department spokesperson told Newsweek that the U.S. "is taking every action that we can—from the view of both deterrence and diplomacy—to make sure it won't come to a military contingency; our entire policy is geared toward that goal.

"We have been very clear that we oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side and expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means," the spokesperson said.

The U.S.' efforts in this area include making services and defense articles available to Taiwan that are "necessary to enable it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability."

"The US will continue to work with industry to provide Taiwan defense equipment as fast as possible," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment, which oversees Defense Department acquisitions, has a specialized group of munitions experts that assesses production status for key weapons systems and works to mitigate any production constraints.

Update 12/7/22, 5:50 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comments from a Defense Department spokesperson.