Taipei Times
Date: Oct 14, 2017
By: Nadia Tsao and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter in Washington, with staff writer
A former senior US defense official on Wednesday said that he is “very confident” in the US military’s ability to respond to a crisis on a similar scale to that of the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996.

Former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia Abraham Denmark made the remark at a conference held by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation on Chinese defense and international security.

Asked about the challenges Taiwan and the US would face should a similar crisis take place involving today’s significantly modernized Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Denmark said that Washington is legally obligated to ensure that the US military maintains the capability to defend Taiwan from attack or aggression.

However, it would be up to the US president to decide whether the US should intervene if there is another crisis in the Taiwan Strait, Denmark said, but added that he is confident that the US continues to possess the military capabilities to do so.
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