CHINA is “credibly preparing” for a military invasion of Taiwan and the attack is “real and imminent”, the US Defence Secretary has warned.
Pete Hegeseth said that Communist Beijing was “rehearsing for the real deal” and described the looming threat as a “wake-up call” for the world.
Speaking at the annual Singapore defence forum Shangri-la Dialogue, Hegeseth said China was preparing to use military force to upend the balance of power.
The Pentagon boss also accused Beijing of carrying out cyber attacks, harassing its neighbours, and “illegally seizing and militarising lands” in the South China Sea.
His warning comes after China deployed two hulking H-6 bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons on a strategic island in the South China Sea.
Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan and held multiple large-scale exercises around the island, often described as preparations for a blockade or invasion.
Hegseth said: “[Beijing is] credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
“The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent.”
China claims almost the entire disputed waterway in the South China Sea – through which more than 60 per cent of global maritime trade passes.
This is despite an international ruling that Beijing’s assertion has no merit.
In recent months, the Chinese navy has also repeatedly clashed with the Philippines in the strategic waters.
Hegseth warned the Chinese military was building the capabilities to invade Taiwan and “rehearsing for the real deal”.
He called on Asian countries to boost military spending to increase deterrence against China.
Reassuring US allies, Hegseth said the Indo-Pacific was “America’s priority theatre”.
Hegseth said: “[US] is reorienting toward deterring aggression by communist China.
“Asian allies should look to countries in Europe for a newfound example,” Hegseth said, citing pledges by Nato members to move toward Trump’s spending target of five per cent of GDP toward defence.
As Hegseth spoke in Singapore, China’s military announced that its navy and air force were carrying out routine “combat readiness patrols” around the Scarborough Shoal.
It is a chain of reefs and rocks that Beijing disputes with the Philippines.
Meanwhile, aerial photos showed two hulking H-6 bombers on an airfield on Woody Island in the South China Sea, taken on May 19.
The long-range aircraft date back to the 1950s and were modelled on Soviet-era warplanes.
But they’ve been souped up to unleash modern weapons, including hypersonic and nuclear missiles.
They are considered China’s most advanced bombers, and this is the first time they’ve been spotted on the outpost in five years.
The photos also show two Y-20 transport aircraft and a KJ-500 early warning plane around Woody Island on the same day.
The KJ-500 is thought vital to China’s expansion of its air and sea campaign, as it tackles increasingly complex operations.
Woody is part of the Paracel Islands, which are roughly halfway between China and Vietnam and the object of an ownership dispute between the two nations.
China built a city called Sansha on Woody Island in 2012, which Beijing uses to lord over the rest of the Paracels and the Spratly Islands.
Hegseth’s comments came after Trump stoked new trade tensions with China, arguing that Beijing had “violated” a deal to de-escalate tariffs as the two sides appeared deadlocked in negotiations.
Meanwhile, a report by the US Defence Intelligence warned that China could begin seizing Taiwan’s smaller outlying islands as a precursor to a full-blown invasion.
The vast majority of Taiwan’s population lives on the main island, but Taipei also controls a smattering of smaller island chains.
These include the Kinmen and Matsu islands close to the Chinese mainland, the Pratas and Taiping in the South China Sea, and the Penghu archipelago nearer to Taiwan.
Storming these islands is one of the options on the table for China’s military generals – who continue to brandish threats of a full-scale invasion of Taiwan.
Experts also told The Sun how China will look to exploit a fragmented West while it waits for the “perfect moment” to launch an attack on Taiwan.
Fears are that the weakening of Western alliances and the unpredictability of US foreign policy under Donald Trump could create the perfect atmosphere for Beijing to trigger an invasion.
And if China does decide to attack, it’s feared it will go in with “full force” using three major military strategies that would wreak havoc on the island.
Defence experts say it’s the “perfect moment” for Xi’s long-standing ambition to reunify Taiwan with the Chinese mainland – and it could launch an attack as soon as 2027.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14365687/china-attack-taiwan-us/
