Posted on 11/22/2020 6:49:26 PM PST by 11th_VA
TAIPEI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A two-star Navy admiral overseeing U.S. military intelligence in the Asia-Pacific region has made an unannounced visit to Taiwan, two sources told Reuters on Sunday, in a high-level trip that could vex China.
The sources, who include a Taiwanese official familiar with the situation, said the official was Rear Admiral Michael Studeman. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to the Navy’s website, Studeman is director of the J2, which oversees intelligence, at the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command. The Pentagon declined comment, as did Taiwan’s Defence Ministry. Taiwan’s foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday that a U.S. official had arrived in Taiwan but declined to provide details, saying the trip had not been made public.
China, which claims democratically-run Taiwan as its own territory, reacted with fury when U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar came to Taipei in August, followed by U.S. Undersecretary of State Keith Krach in September, sending fighter jets near the island each time. The Trump administration has ramped up support for Taiwan, including with new arms sales, alarming China.
It was not immediately clear whether Studeman’s visit would be seen as an escalation by Beijing. Still, he could be one of the most high-ranking U.S. military officers known to have visited Taipei in recent years.
Douglas Paal, a former head of the U.S. representative office in Taiwan who is now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: “If it is Indopacom J2 Studeman, I know of no precedent for such a visit.”
But Randall Schriver, a former assistant secretary of defense for Asia during the Trump administration, said Trump’s Pentagon had been quietly sending one-star flag officers to Taiwan on a routine basis. He noted that the United States and Taiwan had close intelligence exchanges on the threat from China’s military.
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To quote from “Deteriorata”
Gracefully surrender the things of youth: birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan.
Chia will not be happy.
Very interesting
PING
All those communists sitting around Peking eating General Tso’s Chicken.
Cue the “OMG HE’S GONNA BLOW IT ALL THE **CK UP WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE IN A NUCLEAR WAR HE’S LOST HIS GODDAM MIND” stories.
“It was not immediately clear whether Studeman’s visit would be seen [publicly] as an escalation by Beijing.”
“Publicly”... fascinating.
If China is sure Joe will take over they can be adamant- certain that their concerns will be respected by Joe Biden.
China is going to make it’s move once China Joe is president.
Or when we devolve into chaos.
There’s NO evidence the rioting thieving Dems would accept as proof of a stolen election. Once they start rioting and the use of force is needed here, green light will be given to the 1 million ChiComs on the border of Taiwan.
Ignore anyone from the Carnegie Endowment for International Surrender. They make the CATO Institute seem like a Hoover Institution East.
Taiwan/ROC is our best friend in Asia and many of their citizens have experienced Communism on the Mainland first hand. Only Democrats and comsymphs would accept it as a condition people should live under.
Give them a couple dozen nuclear bombs and missiles, just to even the playing field. They have the guts to fight unlike our Democrats and some of our former military leaders.
That would certainly give the chicoms pause.
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