The U.S. chief general has dismissed remarks about Taiwan’s immediate invasion of China

The top American general has dismissed remarks about Taiwan’s immediate invasion of China, stressing that the People’s Liberation Army was not yet capable of annexing the island.

“I believe that China has some way to develop real capacity to conduct military operations, to hijack the entire island of Taiwan through military means, if it wants to do so,” General Mark Milley, the United States’s joint directorate, told the Senate endowment committee. hearing.

Milley added that he believed China had little intention of taking Taiwan by force. “There’s no reason to do it militarily, and they know that. So I think the probability is low in the near future. “

His assessment contrasts with the warning he told Admiral Philip Davidson, then commander of the U.S. Pacific forces. during a hearing That China could attack Taiwan in the next six years. Admiral John Aquilino, Davidson’s successor, said a Chinese attack on Taiwan “could happen much closer than most people think.”

He is also a senior US government official told the Financial Times there was concern that President Xi Jinping considered the progress of joining China with Taiwan to be important for the third term.

Over the past year, the Chinese military has significantly increased pressure on Taipein, such as flying planes In the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Area.

Since Taiwan announced investments in September last year, People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft have entered the buffer zone on average for 20 days a month. The participation of fighters and bombers in these flights has steadily increased, reaching 44 fighters in April.

After a lull at the beginning of the month, China He flew 28 military aircraft on Tuesday to Taiwan, the largest single-day entry. The mission was seen as a reaction to the G7 and NATO declarations, which insulted China and the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier sunk in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Some experts believe that China’s rapid military modernization has given the PLA confidence that the amphibious invasion of Taiwan can be successful.

“The Chinese members I’ve been talking to have told me they can make the landing, they’re sure,” Chinese expert Stanford University’s Oriana Skylar said this week.

But other analysts disagree. “The PLA currently does not have the necessary amphibious lifts, logistics and materials to achieve a strong invasion of the transverse estuary and there is no need to achieve that,” Andrew Erickson, a professor at the US Naval War College, wrote on Monday.