US warns China against Taiwan attack, stresses US ‘ambiguity’ | Al Jazeera

The United States’ national security adviser Robert O’Brien warned China on Wednesday against any attempt to retake Taiwan by force, saying amphibious landings were notoriously difficult and there was a lot of ambiguity about how the US would respond.

O’Brien told an event at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas that China was engaged in a significant naval build-up probably not seen since Germany’s attempt to compete with Britain’s Royal Navy prior to WWI.

“Part of that is to give them the ability to push us back out of the Western Pacific, and allow them to engage in an amphibious landing in Taiwan,” he said.

“The problem with that is that amphibious landings are notoriously difficult,” O’Brien added, pointing to the 160km (100 mile) distance between China and Taiwan and the few landing beaches on the island.