According to an intelligence official, discussions about removing US citizens from the disputed island have “heated up” recently.
The US is preparing evacuation plans for its citizens in Taiwan amid escalating tensions with China, according to a Monday report in The Messenger. Tens of thousands of Americans might be stranded if fighting breaks out on the island.
Although the preparations have been ongoing for at least six months, they have “heated up over the past two months or so,” a “senior US intelligence official” told the news outlet. The official went on to say that the preparations had been motivated by a “heightened level of tension”.
Another source claimed that the US had to reevaluate its policies in Taiwan because of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, which was likely to be the starting point for any conflict between the US and China.
The US warned its citizens to leave the country by commercial means for several months before ordering the majority of its embassy staff out of Kiev two weeks prior to the entry of Russian troops into Ukraine.
Taiwan is currently designated with the lowest of the US State Department’s four travel advisory levels, and the US State Department has not advised Americans against visiting the island. The creation of evacuation plans is being kept under wraps, according to sources with The Messenger, “because it is a sensitive subject for the Taiwanese government.”
Despite the fact that the State Department remained silent regarding the report, a department official claimed that the secrecy was not unusual because “even talking about a [evacuation plan] starts people thinking something may be going on even if it is just prudent planning.”
As of 2019, Taiwan is home to over 80,000 Americans. Geographical considerations would make evacuating these people challenging, a source claimed, citing the fact that many points on the island are connected by single routes that pass through tunnels and that evacuation vessels would have to navigate military fleets heading toward Taiwan.
Since 2021, the administration of US President Joe Biden has taken a more antagonistic stance toward Beijing, repeatedly referring to China as America’s top rival and increasing US military activity in the area. The president has sent US warships through the Taiwan Strait on a nearly monthly basis since taking office, in addition to signing new military and economic agreements with Asian allies. These alleged “freedom of navigation” exercises are seen as provocations by China, which typically retaliates with its own military exercises.
Following the severance of ties with Taiwan, a Latin American leader travels to China.
Additionally, Biden has stated on four different occasions that he would use military force to retaliate against Beijing if it tried to forcibly reunite Taiwan with the Chinese mainland. Beijing vehemently denounced these remarks as being inconsistent with the US’s long-standing practice of acknowledging but not endorsing Beijing’s sovereignty over the island.
