Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, 74, said that China is gearing up for war with the United States over Taiwan, insisting the present state of the Air Force could not beat the Peoples Republic of China. Kendall said the U.S. must be ready for a “kind of war we have no modern experience with,” urging the Pentagon to prepare now rather than later. “Our job is to deter that war and to be ready to win if it occurs,” Kendall said. “We’re all talking about the fact that the Air and Space Forces must change or we could fail to prevent and even lose a war.” Raising the war with China Aug. 23, 2022, President Joe Biden, 80, said he would commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan, hoping his threat would discourage Chinese President Xi Jinping from considering an attack on Chinese Taipei AKA the Republic of China. In 19-months of war with Ukraine, Biden refused to commit U.S. troops.
Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky can’t fathom Biden saying he would defend Taiwan with U.S. troops but not Kiev, battling the Kremlin for sovereignty and territorial integrity. Zelensky asked for U.S. and NATO troops since Day One but was told it would start WW III and it wouldn’t happen. Zelensky doesn’t understand why Biden said he would commit U.S. troops to Taiwan but not Ukraine. Kendall said China has been escalating its military at an alarming rate, preparing at some point in the next few years for a Taiwan invasion. “China has been optimizing its forces for great powers competition and to prevail against the U.S. in the Western Pacific for over 20 years,” Kendall said, urging the Pentagon to increase military preparedness for the Air Force. Kendall admitted that U.S.-Chinese relations are at a low point under the Biden administration.
Kendall raises some unavoidable questions about why U.S.-Russia, U.S.-Chinese and U.S. North Korean relations have deteriorated under Biden. Any answer comes down to Biden’s war hawk mentality on U.S. adversaries, where the president wants China to acquiesce to U.S. demands, refusing to compromise on key national security issues. Kendall and other U.S. military officials have warned about an impending collision course with China in coming years. Xi ordered the Chinese armed forces to increase its readiness for a possible war with the U.S. over Taiwan. China considers Taiwan as part of Mainland China, much the same way it considers Hong Kong and Taiwan. Xi made clear that he won’t back down on retaking Taiwan as part of Mainland China. Xi thinks Biden breached the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, recognizing only one China in Beijing.
No one can figure out why Biden opted for war with the Russian Federation and possible war with China once he took office. Biden certainly shows that he made no effort to continue former President Donald Trump’s policy to getting along with U.S. adversaries. Trump acknowledged he bent over backwards to get along with U.S. adversaries, including Russia, China and North Korea. Trump was the first U.S. president cross the DMZ into North Korea June 20, 2019. Yet despite all of Trump diplomacy with Russia, China and North Korea, he was condemned by Democrats and the press claiming he had a preference for dictators. So, with Biden the U.S. finds itself at war with the Kremlin and Gen. Frank Kendal saying the Pentagon must prepare for war with China. What do Democrats and the press want? WW III. Either the U.S. believes in diplomacy or it doesn’t.
Pulling the U.S. back from the brink requires a president to stop the warmongering and start the same diplomacy that won the U.S. the Cold War. Russia learned over the last 75-years it could work with the U.S. on a host of cooperative ventures, including arms control. Biden knows that former President Jimmy Carter put arms control with Russia as his top priority, once criticizing his GOP opponent former President Ronald Reagan of warmongering. Turns out Reagan used diplomacy with Russia and China to promote peace and prosperity. Biden’s foreign policy has done the exact opposite, pushed adversaries into military confrontation. Kendall isn’t kidding when he says that China is gearing up for war with the United States. Four more years of Biden could push the U.S. into a two-front war, one with Russia the other with China, starting WW III, maybe nuclear war.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall reminds the Pentagon that there’s a lack of preparedness to go up against Communist China, if they decide to invade Taiwan. Kendall thinks better preparedness discourages China to take the next step to reclaim the Island of Formosa housing the Republic of China. “The Air Force and Space Force are incredibly capable, but we nee to re-optimize the department for greater power projection and for greater power competition,” Kendall said. Kendall thinks the greater the deterrence the more likely Beijing will decide to keep the status quo, where Taiwan conti9nues as an independent government. “If our power projection capability and capacity are no adequate to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan or elsewhere, war could occur. If it does, and we cannot prevail, the results could cast a long shadow,” Kendall said, warning of consequences.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
