Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked this week during an event at the Aspen Security Forum if the U.S. military is committed to defending Taiwan if it is invaded by communist China. The U.S., he said, is “just interested in a peaceful outcome.”
When asked by NBC News host Lester Holt if China was preparing to make a move on Taiwan, Milley said he didn’t think anything was near-term, meaning the next 6-24 months, but added, “anything can happen.”
“What is the U.S. commitment to Taiwan?” Holt asked.
“Well, we have, as you know, we have the Taiwan Relations Act and the three communiques that go with it,” Milley responded. “They come into being in the, during the Nixon administration. Those are still the U.S. government’s policy and it’s really an issue of ambiguity. But what we want with the U.S. government’s policy is, is that whatever issues Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China have, they resolve them peacefully, in accordance with the will of the people of the island of Taiwan and the people of China. We’re just interested in a peaceful outcome.”
Milley said that the U.S. “absolutely” has “the capability to do all kinds of things around the world to include” defending Taiwan “if required,” but added that those decisions were “presidential decisions” in terms of “whether or not we do that.”
“But we absolutely have the capability,” Milley said. “There’s no question about that.”
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TRANSCRIPT:
LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS HOST: In that same vein, we’ve also seen more Chinese air activity in the defense zone surrounding Taiwan. Is it your belief that China is preparing to make a move on Taiwan in the near future?
MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: It depends on what you mean by near future. So I’ve said in testimony that my personal estimate is, and I hesitate to speculate on anything in the future, because anything can happen. There’s a wide variety of scenarios that could happen. But I would say that, based on my analysis of China, I don’t think that is likely in the next, near future being defined is, you know, 6-12, maybe 24 months, that kind of window. Having said that, though, the Chinese are clearly and unambiguously building the capability to provide those options to the national leadership, if they so choose, at some point in the future. But near future, probably not. But anything can happen.
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HOLT: What is the U.S. commitment to Taiwan?
MILLEY: Well, we have, as you know, we have the Taiwan Relations Act and the three communiques that go with it. They come into being in the, during the Nixon administration. Those are still the U.S. government’s policy and it’s really an issue of ambiguity. But what we want with the U.S. government’s policy is, is that whatever issues Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China have, they resolve them peacefully, in accordance with the will of the people of the island of Taiwan and the people of China. We’re just interested in a peaceful outcome.
HOLT: Our reporting has been the tabletop exercises, involving U.S. trying to defend Taiwan from from Chinese incursion have ended badly for the U.S.
MILLEY: War games, you mean?
HOLT: War games. Do we have the capability to defend Taiwan?
MILLEY: We absolutely have the capability to do all kinds of things around the world to include that if required, those are the policy presidential decisions, whether or not we do that, and hence the the policy of the Taiwan Relations Act. But we absolutely have the capability. There’s no question about that.