WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, U.S. Congressman Mike Waltz (FL-6) questioned top U.S. military officials, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Jedidiah Royal and Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Admiral John Aquilino, on the Department of Defense’s policies, programs, and priorities in the Indo-Pacific region during a House Armed Services full committee hearing.
Watch the full exchange here.
“Chairman Xi has said that reunification with Taiwan, one way or another, including the use of military force, [which he] just said to the Twentieth Party Congress, is inevitable,” said Waltz. “He said he is not going to pass it along to the next generation. He basically said he’s going to do it on his watch. So, I think we have got a lot of wishful thinking going on just like we had a lot of wishful thinking going on in the run up to Ukraine that force will not be employed.”
Referring to the recent Congressional Delegation trip Waltz took to the Indo-Pacific region, Waltz asked Admiral Aquilino whether “greater clarity on our end, on the U.S.’s end, on our intentions, will help drive clarity with our allies?”
“One of the key takeaways that I continue to take is the ambiguity amongst our allies from these trips,” said Waltz. “Key allies. Allies that if we don’t have use of their airspace, of their ports, of their bases, I don’t see how we effectively come to the aid of the defense of Taiwan.”
“In the event that deterrence fails… as it has in Europe, you have to have those basing and overflight rights, right? Whether it is Japan, the Philippines, we could go down the list, you have to have those operationally as operations commander,” asked Waltz.
“Another concern of mine, which we have talked quite a bit about, is clarity amongst the American people and one of the lessons that the PRC has learned from Ukraine is if they decide to do it, they have to do it quickly,” said Waltz. “We cannot decide where the bathrooms are, quickly. So, I think we need to have that debate now, not when amphibious ships are being loaded.
Waltz went on to question Secretary Royal on Admiral Aquilino’s three-and-a-half billion dollar unfunded list. Waltz asked, “Why, if this is the number one threat, according to multiple administrations, is the man sitting next to you, who may be responsible for the greatest conflict in American history, have three-and-a-half billion dollars out of an $850 billion budget that you cannot find?”
“Why does it take two-and-a-half years from Congressional notification to contract harpoons for Taiwan?” asked Waltz. “We have to move more quickly if the theme of today is we are running out of time.”
Original source can be found here.
