Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

If influence in the Indo-Pacific region is one of the US’ core interests, then Taiwan serves as a cornerstone of US economic and security influence in the region, former US Indo-Pacific Command commander admiral Phillip Davidson said on Thursday.

“China’s ... strategy is to supplant the US leadership role in the international order ... and they’ve long said ... that they intend to do that by 2050,” Davidson told the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit in Washington.

Davidson said he had previously told US Senate hearings on China’s military activities and possible threats in the Indo-Pacific region that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could happen within the next 10 years, or even the next six years.