US Admiral Aquilino is confident in winning a war over Taiwan.

The United States is confident that it could win in a war defending Taiwan should China choose to mount an invasion, said United States Indo-Pacific Commander, Admiral John C. Aquilino.

“The United States does not choose to escalate, we are not being provocative. That said, I’m confident that we’d be able to fight and win wherever it went,” he said at a panel titled “Preserving a Legacy of Liberty and Peace in the Indo-Pacific” on May 23.

Aquilino, during the event hosted by the National Committee on United States–China Relations, said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden have tasked him with two missions.

Missions

• Prevent conflict
• Be ready and prepared to fight and win

“No matter when it happens,” he added, “the United States military is man trained, equipped, postured, and ready to execute both of those missions.”

A possible invasion from China of the democratically ruled Taiwan, which the Chinese regime has long eyed to take over, by force or not, has seemed increasingly possible since Russia’s attack on Ukraine in early 2022.

The tensions around the Taiwan Strait have continued to grow as Beijing escalates its threat campaign toward the island by sending missiles and warplanes close to the territory.

Last month, a record 91 Chinese aircraft and 12 naval vessels appeared around Taiwan as Beijing concluded its three-day military drills in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s stopover in the United States. Dozens of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait into the island’s air defense identification zone, the airspace that serves as a buffer outside its territorial airspace.

The Chinese military, during the drills, conducted simulated joint precision strikes on key targets in Taiwan and its surroundings, and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command declared that the Chinese troops are “ready to fight at any time” to “resolutely smash any form of Taiwan independence and external interference.”

Russia’s “illegal and illegitimate, unprovoked attack on Ukraine” has given the rest of the world a new view of how authoritarian regimes work, Aquilino said on Tuesday.

“The globe was woken up,” he said. “I think the rest of the global community has a view that authoritarian nations and the decision of one man—if he or she, man or woman, were to take that choice, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”

He warned that military aggression on Taiwan would cost the Chinese leader “blood and treasure,” and “the global community can be pulled together quickly when they disagree with actions taken in that fashion,” subjecting Beijing to global condemnation.

In March, Paul Freisthler, chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Directorate for Analysis, told the House Armed Services Committee that China is ahead of Russia in developing hypersonic missiles and may have tested an arsenal capable of hitting U.S. military bases in the Western Pacific.

Responding to concerns about the aggressive Chinese military buildup, Aquilino noted that the United States utilizes the entire joint force to deter military threats.

“If we were to, unfortunately, get any kind of conflict, for the United States, it’s the ability to bring all of our capabilities to bear to ensure that we can fight and win,” he said.