RT reported on April 8 that House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) spoke with Fox News, and declared that “If communist China invaded Taiwan, [putting boots on the ground] would certainly be on the table and something that would be discussed by Congress and with the American people,” he said, adding that “if the American people support this, the Congress will follow.” He didn’t elaborate on how such “support” would be measured or identified.
Representative McCaul was speaking from Taipei during a three-day bipartisan House delegation visit to Taiwan. According to the House Foreign Affairs website, the delegation included: Young Kim (R-CA), Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific; Ami Bera (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific; French Hill (R-AR); Madeleine Dean (D-PA); Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA); Michael Lawler (R-NY); and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX).
Washington officially supports the One China policy that acknowledges Taiwan is part of China, although its actions are not consistent with that position.
McCaul also claimed that increased U.S. presence in the Indo-Pacific region would be a “deterrent for peace” since “you don’t have NATO in the Pacific.”
On Taiwanese defenses, he also spoke on April 8 with NBC’s Sunday broadcast “Meet the Press” that “They’re not where they need to be” and that “if we’re going to have this deterrence for peace, we need to get these weapons into Taiwan,” proudly admitting that he signed off on “all foreign weapons sales” to Taiwan, while acknowledging that these systems have yet to be installed in Taiwan.
