Pentagon’s Top General Says China Attacking Taiwan Would Be Like Russia Invading Ukraine

Would be 'very difficult military task'

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 3, 2022. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The Pentagon’s top general has said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be comparable to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a significant “strategic mistake.”

U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley made the remarks at a joint Pentagon press briefing with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Nov. 16.

The meeting came shortly after Chinese leader Xi Jinping secured a third term as head of the ruling Communist Party.

During the press briefing, Milley was asked if he was at all concerned that Xi might make an “ill-advised or ill-informed decision” to take Taiwan by force, given that the liberal democratic island views itself as its own independent entity, whereas the CCP views it as part of its territory.

Milley responded that while he does not personally know the Chinese leader, he believes Xi is a “rational actor” who will “make decisions based on what he thinks is in his national interest” and who “evaluates things on cost, benefit, and risk.”

“I think that he would conclude that an attack on Taiwan in the near future would be an excessive amount of risk, and it would end in a strategic, really, debacle for the Chinese military. And I think it would throw off their China dream of being the number one economic and military power and so on,” he said.

‘A Political Mistake’

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Oct. 19, 2022. Sergei Ilyin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

“I think it would be unwise, it would be a political mistake, a geopolitical mistake, a strategic mistake, similar to what the strategic mistake is that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has made in Ukraine,” he added.

Milley also noted that the Chinese military had not fought in combat since fighting with the communist north Vietnamese in 1979  against the south, and that crossing the straits and invading Taiwan would be a “very dangerous game” and a “very difficult military task.”

However, Milley stressed that ultimately the United States does not know if China will attempt to take Taiwan but that officials continue to monitor the situation closely and are “ militarily prepared.”

“One of the keys now is to make sure that Taiwan can defend itself, and there are a lot of lessons learned coming out of the Ukrainian war,” he added.

Tensions in the region have steadily grown this year due to increasing military pressure from Beijing on U.S. ally Taiwan, which further escalated following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) visit to the self-ruled island in August.

The Chinese regime said it strongly opposed Pelosi’s visit and other governments or international organizations forming ties with Taiwanese officials.

Following the Democrat’s trip, Beijing ramped up military activity near Taiwan, launching live fire drills and 11 ballistic missiles into the waters around the island.

Biden, Xi Hold Talks

U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and China's leader Xi Jinping (L) meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Nov. 14, 2022. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

On Nov. 12, Taiwan’s defense military announced that 36 Chinese military fighter jets and bombers had flown near the island and its surrounding region.

Despite this, Biden and Xi Jinping this month met for the first time since the former took office in 2021.

The two leaders spoke candidly and positively about bilateral ties, and their “respective priorities and intentions across a range of issues” on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, according to a White House press statement.

On Taiwan, Biden “laid out in detail that our ‘One China’ policy has not changed, the United States opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side, and the world has an interest in the maintenance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” according to the statement.

The U.S. president also “raised objections to the PRC’s coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan, which undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region, and jeopardize global prosperity.”