US Response to China Invading Taiwan Would Be ‘Very Similar’ to Ukraine War Response: US General

Chinese fighter jets fly in the sky near Taiwan in a still from a video released by Chinese state-run media CCTV on Aug. 7, 2022. CCTV via Reuters/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

The U.S. response to China invading Taiwan would be “very similar” to how the United States and its allies have responded to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a U.S. general.

“I hope that China is paying close attention and I assume that they are,” said Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, Pacific Air Forces and Air Component Commander, which is under U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

Wilsbach compared China’s comments about Taiwan, “like the United States is trying to create an Asian NATO” or “Taiwan is trying to be a sovereign nation or independent nation,” to Russia “making up facts” to justify its invasion of Ukraine.

Wilsbach made these comments during a March 20 webinar hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Wilsbach noted that the international community has responded to Russia’s invasion by enacting punitive sanctions on Moscow and giving assistance, including that which is lethal, to Ukraine. The United States has given over $32.5 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. On March 20, the United States announced an additional $350 million in military aid.

“I think that China should expect a very similar response if they were to attack their neighbor,” he said.

Wilsbach noted that air superiority has been key in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that it is no different when it comes to the China-Taiwan dispute. He said that “one of the major reasons” Russia has not been able to take over Ukraine is because Russia has failed to establish “air superiority.”

Wilsbach remarked that, when it comes to invading Taiwan, China would have it anything but easy.

“China has the most difficult military operation there, which is an amphibious landing coordinated with an air assault over 100 miles of ocean,” he said.

Wilsbach also said that, like Ukraine, the Taiwanese “is determined to defend themselves.”

Wilsbach’s comments come as Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 20. The United States reiterated on March 20 that it has not seen China give lethal aid to Russia to use in Ukraine, though China has not taken that option off the table.

CIA Director William Burns said last year that China has not been deterred from possibly invading Taiwan, but that Russia’s failure to take over Ukraine has Beijing thinking about how they would go about such a move on the self-ruled Pacific island.

“I don’t for a minute think that it’s eroded [Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s] determination over time to gain control over Taiwan,“ he said. ”But I think it’s something that’s affecting their calculation about how and when they go about doing that.”