US Army journal calls for return of American bases to raise cost of Chinese invasion
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/22
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
(National Museum of the U.S. Air Force photo)
In the September-October issue of Miltary Review, Captian Walker D. Mills of the U.S. Marine Corps asserts that the U.S. should consider basing soldiers in Taiwan to serve as a deterrent against an assault by People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces on the country. Mills argues that this is necessary to make the U.S. government's stance clear to avoid a miscalculation with China, as the balance of forces in the region are starting to tip in China's favor, and the need to deter China from an attack would result in U.S. involvement.
Walker argues that China's intentions are difficult to predict and that the U.S. miscalculated in the case of the Korea War when it believed the communist country would not get involved. He said that after the removal of U.S. bases in 1979 and the severing of the military alliance between the two countries, the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act put in place afterward made the nature of the relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan more ambiguous.
He said that because the act does not explicitly require the U.S. to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack and the sporadic nature of the arms sales and transits by U.S. Navy ships, the U.S. commitment to the country is lowered. This opens the door for a Chinese attack because of its ambiguity. [FULL STORY]
