Pentagon should abandon ‘wake-up’ and focus on willingness to keep China from seizing Taiwan: senior Republican says

EXCLUSIVE: The chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Preparedness warns that it is only a matter of time before China attempts to invade Taiwan, and that the Department of Defense needs to shift its focus from adopting a “wake-up” policy to ensuring that troops are ready to deal with the problem. threat and other threats to US national security.

“One can argue about whether 2025 is the right year, but the question is when, not whether it will be more,” Rep. Mike Waltz, D-Fl., told Fox News Digital. “And we must do more with our military readiness to convince China not to take this step.”

Waltz said he basically agrees with a memorandum from four-star Air Force General Mike Minihan, head of the Air Mobility Command, which predicted the US would be at war with China by 2025.

Minikhan’s memo to all air wing commanders and other air force operational commanders stated that he believed war with China was inevitable in the next two years, and he said that “a strengthened, ready, integrated and flexible joint maneuver group, ready for battle and victory inside the first chain of islands” must be installed in order to prepare for battle.

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Minikhan instructed his Air Force commanders to report by February 28 on the steps they would take to prepare for a war against China.

Waltz said China’s military buildup could peak between 2025 and 2028 and welcomed Minikhan’s sober assessment of China’s growing power.

“It’s good to hear the commanding general tell his troops to train harder, that we have to contain the war, but if we can’t, then we have to win, and that’s how we’re going to win,” Waltz told Fox News Digital. “He’s focused on standards and winning over diversity, fairness, inclusion and climate.”

“I think this memorandum is accurate,” Waltz added. “This is the kind of mentality that we need our soldiers to see, and that we need the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to see.”

Waltz, who is also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, said the 2024 U.S. presidential election and Taiwan elections could influence the timing of Chinese aggression against Taiwan. Minihan suggested in his memo that the elections would “distract” countries, leaving China free to make a move.

“Taiwan won’t go so far as to say ‘independence’ because they know it’s a trigger for the CCP,” Waltz said. “But they are taking a more and more aggressive stance on their national defense and their ever closer relationship with the United States.”

Chinese J-31 stealth fighter.
(Johannes Eisel/AFP via Getty Images/File)

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Meanwhile, Waltz said the Department of Defense’s focus on climate, COVID vaccine mandates and social policy is keeping young people from being drafted and could undermine United States preparedness.

Waltz said military personnel are “alarmed” that some senior leaders see “climate as the biggest existential threat” and he said they are concerned about the focus on diversity, equality and inclusion.

“I think it affected our readiness and we had our worst recruiting year in a year since Vietnam,” Waltz said. He said vaccination mandates “keep young men and women from registering. Because of this, people leave the service.”

Waltz noted that some Biden administration officials say climate change is an “existential threat” to the United States. This is a reference to comments by the secretary of the army, who said the United States should “transition all of our tanks and combat vehicles to electric propulsion over the next few decades.”

President Joe Biden (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit November 14, 2022 in Bali, Indonesia.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“Their obsession is to have an army with the least carbon footprint,” Waltz said. “And I want the deadliest army.”

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“The administration’s China policy is everywhere, and it’s dangerous,” Waltz added.

This reflects an assessment by House Select Committee Chair on China Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-W, who told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration is “divided” over the Chinese threat.

Officials such as FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes have repeatedly warned that China poses the greatest threat to US national security. changing of the climate.

But a senior administration official told Fox News that Biden’s team is focused on climate change as “a way to compete with China.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks at a briefing at the Pentagon on October 27, 2022.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh/File)

The official pointed to a bipartisan infrastructure bill that they say allows the US to “outdo China” for the first time. The official also pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act, saying the administration is focused on “huge investments” to create U.S. jobs and strengthen supply chains.

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Last summer, Fox News reported that China could invade Taiwan within 18 months, according to current and former officials familiar with US and allied intelligence, specifically through amphibious assaults and military intervention.

When asked to comment on Minihan’s memo, a defense ministry spokesman told Fox News Digital that the comments “do not reflect the ministry’s view of China.”

However, Brig. General Patrick Ryder told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration’s National Defense Strategy “makes it clear that China is a top priority for the Department of Defense and we remain focused on working together with allies and partners to maintain a peaceful, free and open India.” . Pacific Ocean”.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently said there was “increased surface ship activity” around Taiwan, but added that “whether or not that means an invasion is imminent… I seriously doubt it.”