US Congressman: Any War Over Taiwan Would Be Protracted Conflict

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Any potential war over Taiwan would be a protracted conflict and require both the United States and Taiwan have a large number of munitions prepositioned to win it, Rep. Mike Gallagher said on Monday.

"We have to assume that any war over Taiwan would be a protracted conflict which not only means American forces will go Winchester rapidly but Taiwan itself will need large stores of munitions pre-positioned and ready to replace losses ahead of time," Gallagher said during a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments event.

"And, in my opinion, that only magnifies the need for a massive pre-war expansion in munitions productions [in the United States]."

Now that the US is no longer a party to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Washington is not precluded from massing the amount of firepower that would be required to deter or, if necessary, defeat a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and hence has an opportunity to "reestablish conventional deterrence in the Indo-Pacific in the critical theater," Gallagher added.

Ground-launched missiles represent the best chance for the US to avoid a disastrous defeat in a Taiwan war over the coming decade, according to the Republican lawmaker.

Gallagher’s comments on Taiwan come after President Joe Biden said during an interview with CBS News on Sunday that US forces would defend Taiwan if China attacked the island.

China Firmly Opposes Biden’s Repeated Claims That US Forces Would Defend Taiwan - Embassy

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement to Sputnik on Monday that it expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition to Biden's continued statements that the United States would defend Taiwan from Chinese forces.

"China expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the remarks by the US side. The US president has made such remarks several times and every time the administration would clarify that there is no change in its policy on Taiwan," Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said.

Matters concerning Taiwan are purely China’s internal affair that requires no foreign interference, Liu said.

China has no room for compromise or concession regarding issues concerning its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Liu said.

Beijing urges Washington to keep its commitments and abide by the One-China principle as well as the three Sino-US joint communiques that are the basis of bilateral relations, Liu said.

Beijing also urges Washington to honor its commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence" as well as avoid sending any wrong signal to Taiwan’s separatist forces in order to avoid seriously undermining US-China relations and peace across the Taiwan Strait, Liu added.

Biden said during the interview on Sunday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agree with the One China policy. However, Biden also said Taiwan forms its own opinion with respect to pursuing independence but the United States is not encouraging it to be independent.

CBS News followed up on the interview and asked the White House about Biden's remarks regarding defending Taiwan. The White House replied by saying again that the United States' policy on Taiwan has not changed.

On Friday, CNN correspondent Ana Cabrera reported citing CIA Deputy Director David Cohen, that Xi allegedly told the Chinese military he wants Beijing to have the capability to take control of Taiwan by 2027.