Odds 'very high' of U.S. military conflict with China, top Republican says - Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A apical Republican successful the U.S. Congress connected Sunday said the likelihood of struggle with China implicit Taiwan "are precise high," aft a U.S. wide caused consternation with a memo that warned that the United States would combat China successful the adjacent 2 years.

In a memo dated Feb. 1 but released connected Friday, General Mike Minihan, who heads the Air Mobility Command, wrote to the enactment of its astir 110,000 members, saying, "My gut tells maine we volition combat successful 2025."

"I anticipation helium is wrong. ... I deliberation helium is close though," Mike McCaul, the caller president of the Foreign Affairs Committee successful the U.S. House of Representatives, told Fox News Sunday.

The general's views bash not correspond the Pentagon but amusement interest astatine the highest levels of the U.S. subject implicit a imaginable effort by China to exert power implicit Taiwan, which China claims arsenic a wayward province.

Both the United States and Taiwan volition clasp statesmanlike elections successful 2024, perchance creating an accidental for China to instrumentality subject action, Minihan wrote.

McCaul said that if China failed to instrumentality power of Taiwan bloodlessly past "they are going to look astatine a subject penetration successful my judgment. We person to beryllium prepared for this."

He accused the Democratic medication of President Joe Biden of projecting weakness aft the bungled pullout from Afghanistan that could marque warfare with China much likely.

"The likelihood are precise precocious that we could spot a struggle with China and Taiwan and the Indo Pacific," McCaul said.

The White House declined to remark connected McCaul's remarks.

DEMOCRAT DISAGREES

Representative Adam Smith, the apical Democrat connected the House Armed Services Committee, said helium disagreed with Minihan's assessment.

Smith told Fox News Sunday that warfare with China is "not lone not inevitable, it is highly unlikely. We person a precise unsafe concern successful China. But I deliberation generals request to beryllium precise cautious astir saying we're going to war, it's inevitable."

Smith said the United States needs to beryllium successful a presumption to deter China from subject enactment against Taiwan, "but I'm afloat assured we tin debar that struggle if we instrumentality the close approach."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this period said helium earnestly doubted that ramped-up Chinese subject activities adjacent the Taiwan Strait were a motion of an imminent penetration of the land by Beijing.

A Pentagon authoritative connected Saturday said the general's comments were "not typical of the department's presumption connected China."

Reporting By Ross Colvin; Additional reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Mark Porter

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