TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The war in Ukraine has weakened U.S. presence in Asia and affected allies like Taiwan and Japan, former U.S. defense official Elbridge Colby said at a think tank event on Monday (June 17).
Speaking to Michael Fallon, U.K.’s former defense secretary, Colby said China did not send its military forces into Ukraine and allowed the Ukraine war to “deplete and distract” American power. Beijing also refrained from providing Russia with sufficient support to achieve a decisive victory, he said.
Colby said the war in Ukraine did not affect Beijing's goal of annexing Taiwan. “China is looking at the decision about Taiwan and the decision to take on the United States through the lens of the regional military balance vis-à-vis the United States in Asia and resolve in that particular theater,” he said.
Colby criticized the Biden administration for failing to adequately respond to China's rapid and extensive military expansion in the Indo-Pacific with sufficient "hard power." Only the right type of military force, at the right place and time, can effectively deter Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平), he said.
If deterrence fails and China invades Taiwan, military power would be essential, Colby said. If he were to rejoin a second Trump administration, the former official said he would support reducing U.S. troops in Europe and transferring some air defense systems to Asia.
In an interview with Yomiuri Shimbun last month, Colby said Xi probably concluded that peaceful unification of Taiwan was impossible.