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The new chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives said the odds of conflict with China over Taiwan “are very high.”
What Happened: After a U.S. Air Force general, in a memo, warned that Washington would fight Beijing in the next two years, a top Republican in the U.S. Congress, Mike McCaul, said “I think he is right,” Reuters reported.
“The odds are very high that we could see a conflict with China and Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific,” McCaul added.
See Also: Xi Jinping’s China Said To Face More Chip Curbs From These 2 US Allies
McCaul said that if Xi Jinping‘s government failed to take control of the island nation bloodlessly, then “they are going to look at a military invasion in my judgment. We have to be prepared for this.”
The comments from McCaul were prompted by the memo dated Feb. 1 that was released on Friday, in which General Mike Minihan wrote to the leadership of its roughly 110,000 members, saying, “My gut tells me we will fight in 2025.”
Although a U.S. defense official clarified that “these comments are not representative of the department’s view on China,” it shows concern at the highest levels of the military over a possible attempt by Xi’s administration to reunify with Taiwan by force.
Meanwhile, a former Singaporean diplomat last week said that the Chinese President wouldn’t survive a “botched” war, like Vladimir Putin, if he decides to invade Taiwan.
“If China starts a war over Taiwan, it must win and it must win quickly. Putin can survive, I think probably will survive a botched war against Ukraine. But no Chinese leader will survive a failed war against Taiwan,” Bilahari Kausikan said.
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Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.