Pentagon Chief Warns of China 'Rehearsals' for Invasion of Taiwan

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday said Chinese military flights near Taiwan look like "rehearsals" though he did not indicate that he expected Beijing actually to carry out such operations.

Cross-strait tensions have been rising in recent months, with Taiwan complaining for a year or more of repeated missions by China's air force near the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

"I don't want to speculate, but certainly ... it looks a lot like rehearsals," Austin said while speaking at a conference in California.

Military training flights by definition are rehearsals for potential operations.

China has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control, despite the island's claim that it is an independent country that will defend its freedom and democracy.

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, on Friday told Reuters that a Chinese invasion would have “terrible consequences” and stressed that Washington was absolutely committed to ensuring Taipei could defend itself.

“We’re committed to helping Taiwan develop and maintain the capability to defend itself,” Blinken said. “Nobody wants to see this develop into a conflict in this region, so we’re going to do everything in our power to help prevent conflict and dial down the temperature whenever possible.”

Austin also called on the US private sector to work with the Pentagon to develop cutting-edge technologies. But he acknowledged that the military had to do a better job of streamlining its bureaucracy and becoming less risk-averse to make sure entrepreneurs did not view it as the “valley of death”.