Washington remains committed to bolstering Taiwan’s deterrence against a Chinese attack, says a senior Pentagon official. At a think tank event, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said that a Taiwan invasion “is neither imminent nor inevitable.” He said the U.S. was “working hard every day” to strengthen deterrence. He said he also felt “encouraged” by Taiwan’s own progress on bolstering its self-defense.

The American Enterprise Institute held a panel discussion on the U.S.’ cooperation with allies in the Indo-Pacific region. One focal point was the strengthening of Taiwan’s deterrence capabilities.

Ely Ratner
US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs
You’ve heard department leaders say a number of times, we believe deterrence is real and deterrence is strong today and we’re working hard every day to keep it that way and we believe an invasion of Taiwan is neither imminent nor inevitable.

Senior Pentagon official Ely Ratner said the U.S. had contributed substantially to strengthening deterrence in the Taiwan Strait, through its regional strategy and military deployments.

Ely Ratner
US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs
We are in the process of making our force posture in the Western Pacific more distributed, more mobile, more resilient and more lethal and all of that will contribute to deterrence.

He said that Taiwan itself was working to improve its self-defense capabilities.

Ely Ratner
US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs
Taiwan has a role in that as well, including in bolstering their own resilience, not just from a military perspective, but from a whole-of-society perspective, and I’m encouraged by the trend lines on that issue.

Ratner said Taiwan was working to ensure its military has the necessary plans, capabilities and exercises to strengthen deterrence and maintain peace and stability. Also at the event was U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink. According to Kritenbrink, the U.S. secretary of state may bring up concerns about China’s coercion of Taiwan, when speaking with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting this week.

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