Washington D.C. - House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul and Rep. Steve Chabot, ranking member on the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee released the following statement in response to recent concerning comments made by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and White House Asia Czar Kurt Campbell regarding United States policy toward Taiwan’s defense. Despite massively increased military aggression from the People’s Republic of China against Taiwan, Campbell and Haines argued that it would be destabilizing to clarify U.S. support for Taiwan’s defense.
“It’s the CCP’s belligerence that’s increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait, not U.S. efforts to deter attack, and certainly not Taiwan’s desire to remain a free country. We are deeply concerned that some of our top national security officials are arguing that modernizing our Taiwan policy would be a provocation. This is not only sharply at odds with the analysis of our uniformed commanders, but exactly the narrative the CCP seeks to promote. The facts call for bold leadership to preserve deterrence, not handwringing that we might disturb a balance the CCP has spent the last several years upending.".
