"The mainland occupies Taiping Island and the United States will not send troops to assist Taiwan." The results of a virtual exercise disappointed the senior officials in front of the stage.
[Global Times reporter Yu Ming] The results of a virtual exercise involving former officials from the United States, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea showed that if the People's Liberation Army occupied Taiping Island controlled by Taiwan, the United States would not send military assistance.
According to Taiwan’s “Central News Agency” on the 22nd, the Washington think tank “Sasakawa Peace Foundation” previously invited former officials and military officers from the United States, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea to participate in a series of virtual exercises on conflicts and crises in the Indo-Pacific region on behalf of their respective regions. Those include former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Meg Shaman and Taiwan’s former "Chief of Staff" Li Ximing. One of the scenarios of the exercise was set in the South China Sea. The background was that a typhoon struck Taiping Island in the South China Sea in August. The mainland dispatched a marine police corps and 300 armed police to Taiping Island. The airport runway on the island was immediately blocked, and the Taiwan garrison on the island was forced to withdraw. headquarters. According to the exercise report, the United States was worried that it would be involved in the war with the mainland due to the South China Sea issue. Therefore, when Taiwan requested support, the United States called on Taiwan to suspend military operations.
Regarding why the United States did not send troops to support Taiwan's recapture of Taiping Island, Blair, who was once the commander of the US Pacific Command, said that the United States provided "conditional security guarantees" to Taiwan with geographical restrictions. Li Ximing admitted frankly that he was disappointed, but Taiwan must respect the US decision.