outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, urged Washington to accelerate military development.

Better yet. Instead of spending a trillion dollars to gear up to join WW3, how about spend that money to develope domestic manufacturing so we can completely embargo all imports from China. Stay out of conflicts between other nations.

Hit them in the economy and it will hurt them far more than hitting them with bombs, plus the bonus effect of not wasting thousands if not millions of human lives.

Maybe one day they can attain the freedom status of the exceptional USA.

I think Taiwan doing so well in the semiconductor space is a huge win for the region. I fear China attacking would put East Asians in a tough spot; especially if the foundries get destroyed.

So does the Chinese think it will be a quick war? Recent history has shown that this kind of years never end. The Taiwanese have been preparing for this for years.

Russians thought taking Ukraine would last a few weeks and that war has been ongoing for couple of years. The Saudis are sucked into Yemen for several years. The US got into 2 forever wars at the same time.

Well if nobody in the West is prepared to admit that Taiwan isn't a bit of China, what are they going to do about it? Probably nothing at this point. It's far enough away that it's not really a territorial threat to us, unlike Ukraine.

The real question should be, what are we doing about all that Taiwanese manufacturing we rely on? Because if the answer isn't "move it all back to Western countries where it can fuel Western economies no matter the cost" then you're making a hell of a gamble on China staying friendly with us in the future.

The current Chinese state did not exist before WW2, so I think that comparison is a bit odd

This is the best summary I could come up with:

"All indications point to the PLA meeting President Xi Jinping's directive to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027," Aquilino wrote in a testimony to the US Armed Services House Committee.

"Furthermore, the PLA's actions indicate their ability to meet Xi's preferred timeline to unify Taiwan with mainland China by force if directed," added the admiral, the outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command.

He and Assistant Defense Secretary for the Indo-Pacific Command Ely Ratner both said the threat of direct conflict between the US and China is "neither immediate nor inevitable," but that the Pentagon must move fast to reduce the risk of war.

This year, the Indo-Pacific Command flagged in a priority wish list that it hoped for $11 billion more than the funds allocated by the White House, with $430 million requested for the Guam missile defense system, per documents obtained by Politico Pro.

Meanwhile, US leaders have been concerned with Xi's mandate to make China's military a "world-class" force by 2027, as the White House fears that Beijing seeks to supplant the US as the dominant power in the Indo-Pacific and eventually the rest of the globe.

The purge and reports of graft materially affecting China's arsenal triggered questions internationally about the true strength of the People's Liberation Army, and if Xi's military goals have been delayed.

The original article contains 646 words, the summary contains 221 words. Saved 66%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Oooh Western money is gonna be pissed.

Can't they make haste please? I wanna see live action fallout irl /s