Shownotes Transcript
So in the 1950s, as you know, the United States set up NATO. They also set up SETO, the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization, or CETO. But one organization that was not set up, but it was conceived of,
but it was never birthed, so to speak, was NITO, the Northeast Asian Treaty Organization, which would consist of South Korea, United States, Japan, and Taiwan. And so what's interesting about that scenario is that actually three out of the four already are moving in that direction. Japan
South Korea and the United States have moved towards a trilateral security arrangement. And so NITO was those three plus Taiwan. So it's possible that a NITO could be rebirthed or whatever terminology you want to use. And I would also include the Philippines as part of that NITO.
because the U.S. already has a bilateral security arrangement with the Philippines. So I think the one country missing is Taiwan. And so it could be an interesting scenario. Now, I will tell you that I didn't mention in my paper, but even the thought of that,
freaked out Mao and his entourage. And as a result of even thinking that thought, in addition to a couple other things, that was the start of the, I think the second Taiwan or the first Taiwan crisis where artillery was raining down on Kinmen Island
uh for uh for several for several years actually started uh started in the summer of that year that NITO was even mentioned so um I think if the United States is going to do something like that they're going to have to pre-position some forces or have some extra um extra uh
military, Navy, Air Force, Army sort of ready to be here quickly because I think China would react. But we shouldn't just calibrate ourselves based on what China's going to do. We should do what's right. And I think what's right is...
making a security arrangement for the allies that we have in the Western Pacific. And I think those countries I just mentioned are the ones that we should encourage them all to work together and build up a NATO-like organization.
Do you think that's viable now, especially with, you know, NATO not really looking too cohesive? And also, it's pretty negative, I think, the sentiment in the U.S. against NATO and against just the idea of like the U.S. getting involved in wars and things like that. Well, you know, NATO is supposed to stop wars and it did a pretty good job. We didn't have a war with the Soviet Union.
And only until recently did we really start getting involved. And actually, NATO was the only time that the Article 5 was initiated for NATO was 9-11. 9-11, the NATO countries came together and said, we are going to help you fight against al Qaeda.
So I think the negative view of NATO is kind of temporary right now. And I think it has to do a lot with President Trump's administration wanting to shift its gears to Asia. And I think NATO is what is NATO going through right now is a
recalibration of its mission. And the United States is trying to make NATO countries become more responsible for their security and the NATO security. And so I think this, in the end, you know, a few years from now, I think we'll see that NATO is actually stronger because of what happened and what's going on.
I don't think the United States is going to pull out of NATO. And I think this NATO concept that you mentioned is a good idea because it makes it more complicated for China. China likes to beat up on individual countries and individual people, individual organizations, because they can focus all their energy on that one target. But if they have several countries they have to deal with at once, it makes it more complicated for them, and they don't like that.
And when they don't like it, that's a good thing. So I think it's a good it's a good idea. Like I mentioned, it's already in in creation. Japan, South Korea and the United States already have a trilateral security arrangement that could be called NITO already. And if they can add Taiwan or the and or the Philippines, I think that would be a good thing.
Now, one of the things that happens every time there's any suggestion of supporting Taiwan in any way at all is that it angers China, as the Western media like to report. But like, so literally everything that is done, like, you know, bringing Taiwanese soldiers to be trained in the U.S. or, you know, setting up a TSMC plant or, you know, Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan, like everything angers China.
And so I sometimes just feel like it's like just crying wolf all the time. Like China gets angry, they get angry, they get angry, they get angry and still they haven't actually invaded Taiwan. So what do you think is the,
the line is there an actual red line yeah like like what if is there a red line and if so what is it that would actually trigger an invasion well see I think that's the wrong framework because I don't I think China is going to invade Taiwan the CCP is going to invade Taiwan where they feel ready to invade Taiwan
Don't know that like they're gonna start invading Taiwan early because they got angry about something like Nito being so you think they'll just they would use that as a pretext to invade but they actually their invasion plan has nothing to do with it well, I think it's like it's the wrong thing to think that like we could provoke China into invading Taiwan I think that's what they want us to think right because if we think that then we'll be afraid of provoking an invasion of Taiwan Who's the pyramid head now?
I don't know. I mean, that's just my opinion, man. No, I think that's a good point. Well, G-Man, what is your opinion, man? Okay, so...
You're all right, actually. Okay. So to take Matt's position, the Department of Defense, as you know, every year publishes its view on China. And they list about six items that are supposed to be red lines according to their interpretation, our U.S. Department of Defense interpretation of the red lines, such as, you know,
Taiwan declares independence, the United States deploys US forces to protect Taiwan. Taiwan declares it has nuclear weapons. There's a few more. So that's the DoD's interpretation of what they think will trigger China, although like
you know, uh, they, this might be their way of controlling what we do with Taiwan, uh, like Shelly mentioned. Uh, so they might be using this, uh, messaging to make sure we don't go, uh, in any of those directions or Taiwan doesn't go in any of those directions and to keep, uh, Taiwan in a box, so to speak, and, um, not allow it to, um, do anything that, that would be extreme. Now it, it,
I agree with Shelley's point that they're going to, you know, whether they take Taiwan by force or by manipulation, you know, peaceful and unpeaceful means, you know, anti-succession law in 2005. You know, it's its 20th anniversary or something like that this year. So I think that the the.
It could be as simple as Xi Jinping wakes up one morning and has a bad night and he just says, you know, go, you know, to the PLA. I don't think I don't think we're going to know 100 percent what China is going to do in terms of its actions, violent actions towards Taiwan. And so I think Taiwan needs to be ready for any contingency, whether it's 2027, where he supposedly told the PLA to be ready or whether it's
an action that occurred, let's say off the coast of Taiwan where the PLA Navy and the ROC Navy have a little incident and people die, I mean, that could trigger as well. So
I think that that's why people are very cautious about dealing with the Taiwan topic, because they're not really sure what China's going to do. And we saw, we've seen this in the so-called South China Sea, which I call the Southeast Asian Sea.
where China has done a lot of, with their military, has done a lot of very dangerous activity in the air and in the sea where people could be killed. We saw that in 2001 where our EP-3 almost got shot down or crashed because of the antics of a PLA Navy pilot. So
I don't think the United States wants war, but I think they want to make sure that Taiwan is as prepared as it can be. And that's our responsibility according to the Taiwan Relations Act. We're supposed to keep Taiwan prepared.
uh, for the threat. And that's another article I wrote is that I, Taiwan and the United States need to recalibrate that and, uh, do a lot more in terms of getting Taiwan ready. And the United States needs to do a lot more to get ready because, uh,
That's why President Trump created the Office of Shipbuilding, because we're way behind. So I think both sides have a lot to do. And I think that the idea that we're all worried about what China is going to do kind of reminds me of, you know,
A decade or so ago, people used to have bracelets, you know, what would what would Jesus do? You know, so I just don't think we should be so concerned about China where we don't do anything. I think we should do what we think is necessary and focus on that. And if China decides to get crazy, then we'll be ready for it.
Thank you for watching. A link to G-Man's recent article is below. And this was just one short highlight from our hour-long podcast. The full interview is available exclusively on our website, ChinaUncensored.tv. And when you subscribe to our website, you'll also get premium China Uncensored episodes, live streams, and a community chat with me, Shelley, Matt, and hundreds of subscribers. Most importantly, you'll be supporting content you love. Check it out. Just click right here.