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TAIPEI, Taiwan — The CCP's "increased aggression" toward Taiwan is "clearly an intimidation tactic," Rep. Young Kim, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, told Townhall this week. Xi Jinping isn't just interested in Taiwan, though, and America's status as leader of the free world is not just at stake in the Taiwan Strait.
In Taiwan as part of the first U.S. congressional delegation to the Republic of China since its new president was inaugurated, Kim said the visit should "send [China's Xi Jinping] a message that we stand by our commitment as stated in the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), we don't want conflict in the Taiwan Strait, [and] nobody wants war." Nobody except Xi, perhaps, who self-imposed a deadline of 2027 for his People's Liberation Army (PLA) to be ready to attack Taiwan.
"We come here with good faith to send Xi Jinping the message that according to the TRA, we have an obligation to provide Taiwan with the defensive capability and the supplies they need to deter armed conflict on the Taiwan Strait, and we are doing that," Kim emphasized to Townhall.
"We are trying to do everything we can to deter any potential armed conflict," Kim continued. That includes the U.S. doing "everything we can to expedite the arms delivery that Taiwan already paid for. Our timeline to provide Taiwan what they need should not be longer than Xi Jinping's timeline to attack Taiwan," she reiterated.
On that front, Kim told Townhall that her 2022 Arms Exports Delivery Solutions Act has successfully reduced a "huge" multi-billion-dollar backlog in U.S. defense equipment sold to Taiwan, including aiding the fulfillment of $10 billion worth of orders in just the last six months.
Such military support — in the form of defensive systems sold to Taiwan by the U.S. and through other funding included in multiple appropriations bills via foreign military financing (FMF) and presidential drawdown authority (PDA) — is critical to Taiwan's deterrence of CCP aggression.
In addition to the world economy being imperiled should Xi choose to invade — thereby jeopardizing Taiwan's semiconductor industry on which the world relies for everything from cell phones and cars to washing machines and LED light bulbs — there's even more at stake.
"If [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company] is affected because of the potential conflict here, our economy in the world is affected, our national security is at risk, and our standing in the world is also questioned by our allies and friends and partners," Kim warned in her sit-down interview with Townhall. "Not just in the Indo-Pacific area, but people are watching us — can we lead on the world stage?"
"There is a lot at stake right now," Kim reiterated. "Xi Jinping is not going to stop at Taiwan." Xi is, much like Putin in Russia, looking to restore a previous empire by toppling free, prosperous democracies and subjugating them to his totalitarian will. Taiwan just happens to to be in the first island chain, an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the words of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, with incredible strategic importance to the Indo-Pacific. If Xi can take Taiwan off the map as an ally of the free world, his march across the Pacific will become orders of magnitude easier. Xi has help, too.
Explaining to Townhall the "unholy alliance that's being built right now" among North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran," Kim said the United States needs to "counter that unholy alliance" by building "our own holy alliance with freedom-loving nations" such as Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and others.
"We need to continue to project that we can lead, and we can govern, and we can be the world leader," Kim told Townhall of the importance of U.S. support for Taiwan's deterrence to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait according to the Taiwan Relations Act.
"When we show that strength, then Xi Jinping will think twice," Kim emphasized. "He may say he wants his military to be ready by 2027, but hopefully that will just be his wishful thinking and nothing happens afterward. But that will happen only if we show strength and make him think twice."