UPDATE 1-U.S. warns China against Taiwan attack, stresses U.S. 'ambiguity'

(Adds Taiwan defense ministry comment)
By David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. national security
adviser warned China on Wednesday against any attempt to take
Taiwan by force, saying amphibious landings were notoriously
difficult and there was a lot of ambiguity about how the United
States would respond.
Robert O'Brien told an event at the University of Nevada in
Las Vegas that China was engaged in a massive naval buildup
probably not seen since Germany's attempt to compete with
Britain's Royal Navy prior to World War One.
"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 100-mile
(160-km) distance between China and Taiwan and the paucity of
landing beaches on the island.
"It's not an easy task, and there's also a lot of ambiguity
about what the United States would do in response to an attack
by China on Taiwan," he added, when asked what U.S. options
would be if China moved to try to absorb Taiwan.
O'Brien was referring to a long-standing U.S. policy of
"strategic ambiguity" on the question of whether it would
intervene to protect Taiwan, which China considers its province
and has vowed to bring under its control, by force if necessary.
The United States is required by law to provide Taiwan with
the means to defend itself, but it has not made clear whether it
would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack,
something that would likely lead to a much broader conflict with
Beijing.
O'Brien's comments come at a time when China has
significantly stepped up military activity near Taiwan and when
U.S.-China relations have plunged to the lowest point in decades
in the run-up to President Donald Trump's Nov. 3 re-election
bid.
O'Brien repeated U.S. calls for Taiwan to spend more on its
own defense and to carry out military reforms to make clear to
China the risks of attempting to invade.
"You can't just spend 1% of your GDP, which the Taiwanese
have been doing - 1.2% - on defense, and hope to deter a China
that's been engaged in the most massive military build up in 70
years," he said.
Taiwan needed to "turn themselves into a porcupine"
militarily, he said, adding: "Lions generally don't like to eat
porcupines."
On Tuesday, the senior U.S. defense official for East Asia
called Taiwan's plan to boost defense spending by $1.4 billion
next year insufficient. He said it needed to invest in capabilities including more
coastal defense cruise missiles, naval mines, fast-attack craft,
mobile artillery and advanced surveillance assets.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry, in a response provided to
Reuters, said they will "strive for an adequate budget" in
accordance with their needs to build a solid national defense
force.