China hits back over ‘reckless’ war talk

BEIJING: China has accused a senior US general of being “reckless” after he said the two superpowers would be at war within two years.

In a stark warning about the chance of conflict over President Xi Jinping’s determination to seize Taiwan, General Mike Minihan – who oversees the US Air Force’s fleet of transport and refuelling aircraft – said: “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me (China and the US) will fight in 2025.”

In the memo obtained by NBC News, General Minihan told operational commanders to make ready for combat.

“Xi secured his third term and set his war council in October 2022,” he said. “Taiwan’s presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a reason. US presidential elections are also in 2024 and will offer Xi a distracted America. Xi’s team, reason, and opportunity are all aligned for 2025.”

His remarks were a rare example of a senior US military official suggesting US troops would respond if China were to invade Taiwan – something officials in Washington have hitherto been reluctant to state explicitly, preferring to maintain the longstanding position of “strategic ambiguity”.

Another US defence official, meanwhile, told The Washington Post that General Minihan’s comments “are not representative of the department’s view on China”.

Regardless, the response from Beijing was forthright. Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the state-run Global Times newspaper that General Minihan had been “provocative and reckless”.

He warned against what he saw as a “self-fulfilling prophecy”, saying it could “further damage China-US relations”.

The memo comes amid rising tensions over Taiwan.

An air force spokeswoman, Major Hope Cronin, verified the memo’s authenticity, saying it “builds on last year’s foundational efforts by Air Mobility Command to ready forces for future conflict should deterrence fail”.