Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who serves as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned on Monday that the potential for China to launch a surprise attack against Taiwan and potentially engage in a conflict with the United States is “actually much worse” than most Americans realize.
During a Monday interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Cotton shared about his new book “Seven Things You Can’t Say About China” and warned about the threat the country currently poses to the United States.
“China is justly unpopular with the vast majority of Americans, and most of those Americans are very worried about China,” Cotton told Hewitt. “But if anything, it’s actually much worse. The threat is pervasive. It’s present today. It’s not remote in the future, and it is something that affects your everyday life in America, not just, you know, something that might affect our strategic position in the world years from now.”
Asked about the threat posed by China’s “gray zone” activities, such as repeatedly sending Chinese aircraft and ships into Taiwan’s airspace and coastal waters, the senator warned that China could launch a surprise attack against Taiwan at any time.
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“I don’t think we can ever take that for granted. I know that Taiwan, and, for that matter, Japan does not either,” Cotton told Hewitt. “That’s why the increasing number of recent years of naval and air patrols by Communist China in Taiwan’s airspace and its waters, just like in Japan’s southwest islands, are so deeply troubling.”
Cotton warned that by repeatedly conducting military exercises near Taiwan and Japan’s southwest islands, China’s People’s Liberation Army, Navy, and Air Force are able to have “more opportunities to train for the operation in which they might go for the jugular in Taiwan.”
“It puts severe stress on Taiwan and Japan’s military — both their equipment and their people,” Cotton added. “You know, in times when you might be, say, doing operations or maintenance or training or just giving your troops a break, they have to scramble to intercept those Chinese aircraft and ships, and I think it also can’t help but to lead to a bit of a sense of complacency and dull the acuity of the antennae of everyone who’s involved.”
During Monday’s interview, the Republican senator told Hewitt that while nothing may happen the 2000th time China enters Taiwan’s airspace, the 2001st time China enters Taiwan’s airspace, it may not just be a training exercise but could be the “initial attack force” in a Chinese invasion.
“So I think that we have serious reason to be very concerned about all of these incursions,” Cotton concluded.