Nuclear Weapons the Only Power That Can Fight China in Event of Clash Over Taiwan: Robert Spalding

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According to Robert Spalding, retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General, nuclear weapons are the only power that can fight China in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.

China reportedly sent 42 warplanes and eight naval vessels toward Taiwan on April 8 in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on April 5 in California.

Beijing’s actions came as the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military announced on April 8 that it was beginning three days of combat readiness patrols and “Joint Sword” exercises around Taiwan, involving police patrols.

Even on April 11, after its three-day military exercises, the regime’s provocative military actions continued in the area.

According to the former general, the military activities show that the People’s Liberation Army—the Chinese military—is practicing “how they would conduct both a blockade and then eventual invasion.”

He called such moves “frightening” and “concerning.”

“Every single day, the People’s Liberation Army is practicing and preparing and training and equipping to invade Taiwan, and every single day we get closer to that eventuality,” Spaldling recently told “China in Focus” on NTD, the sister media outlet of the Epoch Times.

General Robert Spalding (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

“And as China continues to practice, eventually, they’re going to move just like the Russians went into Ukraine. So we should not discount the threat that the Chinese pose to Taiwan,” he added.

China’s President Xi Jinping called on the country’s armed forces to “strengthen military training oriented towards actual combat,” state media reported Wednesday, April 12, after Beijing conducted military drills to intimidate Taiwan.

Xi’s comments were made on a naval inspection trip on Tuesday, the last day of the drill series.

Nuclear Power as Fighting Means

In his opinion, if a war between the two superpowers breaks out over Taiwan, there is no guarantee that the United States can gain the upper hand over China.

“China has a bigger Navy, they have a bigger Air Force. Now. It’s in their backyard. They’re eight miles from the Taiwan coast; we’re thousands of miles away with not all of our resources there,” he said.

Moreover, “We’ve committed a lot of weapons and other things to Ukraine,” he added.

The only weapons that would enable the U.S. to balance the conventional military might of China are nuclear weapons, he contended.

“If we’re talking about nuclear, we’re absolutely prepared. Our nuclear forces certainly are, and they’ve been ready throughout the Cold War, through the end of the Cold War, we’ve kept them prepared and credible,” he said.

“We’re talking ‘conventional.’ Absolutely not,” he added.

Nuclear Deterrence

Spalding further said that the strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan, which means Washington’s deliberate vagueness on whether it would defend the island in the event of a Chinese attack, is a problem.

“If we want to prevent an invasion, if we feel like that’s important, then we ought to let them [China] know quite clearly that going across this red line is going to be something that they’re going to regret. And then we have to basically put consequences behind this,” he said.

He deemed nuclear weapons essential to deter China from extending its aggression beyond Taiwan.

He noted that the warning message delivered to Beijing must be very forceful.

“And [it] has to be backed up by nuclear weapons. If we’re not willing to do that, then I fear that we’re not going to be able to deter the Chinese from eventually invading Taiwan,” he said.

“And we ought to let them know that if you invade Taiwan, there will be consequences that put the Chinese Communist Party leadership itself at risk; that’s what they’re concerned about. If we’re not willing to do that, then you’re going to see the Chinese continue past Taiwan to be aggressive with other nations,” he said.