China Not Planning To Invade Taiwan Soon, But Wants To Establish New Norm - Pentagon

China is not planning to invade Taiwan in the near term but seeks to pressure the international community to accept China's policy toward Taipei, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th November, 2022) China is not planning to invade Taiwan in the near term but seeks to pressure the international community to accept China's policy toward Taipei, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said on Friday.

"I don't think in the near term that China is planning to invade Taiwan. I think they want to apply a course of pressure on Taiwan. I think I think they want to establish a new normal around Taiwan. I think they want to put pressure on the international community to acquiesce to China's policy toward Taiwan," Kahl said during a Brookings think-tank event.

Khal added that he believes Chinese President Xi Jinping has not made a decision to use force to reunify with Taiwan, but he has certainly given his military the charge to have that capability by 2027.

The economic consequences alone of a war with Taiwan would be cataclysmic for the international community, Kahl underscored.

The situation around Taiwan escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August, becoming the first high ranking official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.

Beijing condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan a territory with its own elected government maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.