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Would the US really rescue Taiwan if mainland China attacked?
- Washington has pledged to help the island defend itself but just what that means is up for interpretation
- Events in Ukraine offer some insight into what might happen, observers say
Reading Time:4 minutes
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This is the second in a two-part series on tensions between mainland China and Taiwan. Here, Lawrence Chung looks at what help the US is likely to give the island if it came under attack. Click here for the first part of the series.
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Taiwan will have to fight for itself in a conflict with mainland China, though its informal but close ally the United States is expected to provide arms and other aid to the self-ruled island, according to military experts.
As tensions in the Taiwan Strait have mounted in recent years, discussions have centred on the likely US reaction to an attack on the island from the mainland.
The consensus is that the US would not send its forces in.
This was underlined at a US Senate’s armed services committee hearing on Thursday, when US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley suggested that the best defence of Taiwan would be by the Taiwanese.
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“We can certainly help them, as is being done in Ukraine, for example, and a lot of lessons are coming out that China is taking seriously,” he said. But he also stressed the best deterrence was to “make sure the Chinese know it is a very difficult objective to take”.
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