Taiwan visit fortifies Johnson’s views on China threat

Business and political leaders in Taiwan have a deepening understanding of the threat posed by China, and they are taking action, Rep. Dusty Johnson said.

Johnson was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers with the Select Committee on China who visited Taiwan near the end of February. He called his first trip to the island off the coast of mainland China “eye opening.”

Taiwan just elected a new president, and Johnson met with both the president and president-elect on the trip. Communist China has been attempting to reunify with Taiwan since nationalists fled to the island 75 years ago after communists took over the country following a civil war at the end of World War II.

But only in recent years has communist China developed the technology and military forces capable of a violent invasion. That’s putting pressure on U.S. policy leaders to find lines in the sand when it comes to Taiwan – the world’s biggest producer of semiconductor chips for computers – and Chinese aggression.

In January, voters elected William Lai to the presidency. Lai, with whom Johnson met, was China’s least favored candidate.

While China has always been a “saber rattler” when it comes to Taiwan and unification, Johnson said the communists have been more aggressive in the last year, stepping up rhetoric, diplomatic pressure and cyberattacks. China’s authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, has vowed to unify the island nation with the mainland.

Taiwan has responded by increasing the time of mandatory military conscription for its eligible males from four months to one year.

“They’ve really quickened their preparations, I think in a meaningful way,” Johnson said. “They realize this is a real economic threat, a real cultural threat and it is a real military threat.

The United States has wavered on its commitments to foreign allies. The Biden administration withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, returning the country to the control of the Taliban. And some Republicans in Congress oppose more aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders. Johnson said he got questions about the U.S. being a “fair weather friend.”

The U.S. Senate passed an aid package worth more than $90 billion for assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan – the bulk going to Ukraine – but Johnson doubts that the House will adopt the measure. Still, he said there are aid options possible, assuming they also include dealing with the migrant situation on the border with Mexico.

“Clearly the southern border plays a role in this,” he said. “It is a little hard to invest in border security for other countries if we’re not taking care of our own border security.”

Taiwan wants more assistance from the United States in terms of training its growing military forces, something Johnson said he agrees with and a mission suited to U.S. forces. Military and economic conflict with China should be avoided, and that can be done through deterrence.

“We need to understand, China has been in Cold War with us for 20 years,” he said. “Ronald Reagan had it best when he said peace through strength. Now is not the time for us to turn our attention away from threats abroad.”