Brian Kerg

IPSI Fellow @AtlanticCouncil | Ed Board @NavalInstitute alumnus | @MilWritersGuild Board Member | Views my own, RT =/= endorsement

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

My latest in @USNIProceedings.

"Keep the Steel in the First Island Chain."

"By knotting and splicing the frayed strands of each alliance, the United States can turn the rope of shared security into the chain it needs to be."

🇺🇸🇯🇵🇰🇷🇵🇭🇹🇼🪖

https://t.co/qI2d9eUK7t

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

Resounding sentiment from #Taiwan supporting their sovereignty, and a clear rejection of capitulation to #China.

#KMT chairwoman Cheng's pro-China campaigning is a gift to the #DPP that keeps on giving. 🇹🇼

[Denise Wu @denisewu]

🇹🇼’s MAC released the latest poll

• 79.7% disagree 👎 “one country, two systems”
• 72.6% agree 👍 “ROC (Taiwan) and PRC (China) are not subordinate to each other”
• 88.6% agree 👍 “the future of Taiwan must be jointly decided by 23 million people (Taiwanese).
• 71.9% agree 👍 the government to increase the national defense budget and strengthen self-defense.

https://t.co/5JDMIUKaIH

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

This is not new, but it is not common knowledge among #Taiwan and #China watchers.

Amplifying it now emphasizes that #Taiwan has more relationships than the world tends to acknowledge, and undermines #China's narrative warfare. 🇹🇼 🇸🇬 🪖

https://t.co/TUKl5Mi7d2

[U.S. Naval Institute @NavalInstitute]

The United States cannot proclaim a first island chain strategy while relocating regional forces to Guam. https://t.co/Az26vIfwaQ

[USNI Proceedings @USNIProceedings]

The United States cannot proclaim a first island chain strategy while relocating regional forces to Guam. https://t.co/PCd3opNZCy

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

Hold on, hold on, let's correct this for you:

"Most #CCP members today say that Deng Xiaoping was vindicated by how well the #CCP has developed. I doubt the #CCP would be as powerful if the students weren't murdered and suppressed by the #CCP."

[Angelica 🌐⚛️🇹🇼🇨🇳🇺🇸 @AngelicaOung]

@SecRubio Most Chinese people today say that Deng Xiaoping was vindicated by how well China has developed. I doubt China would be as prosperous or powerful if the students got their way.

[Joseph Wu @josephwutw]

8964，是中共永远无法抹去的历史记忆；人民追求自由与尊严的火种，也绝不会熄灭。

期盼中国人民真正享有自由的那一天，早日到来。

#天安门
#永不遗忘

[Atlantic Council @AtlanticCouncil]

On China’s dominance in critical mineral supply chains:

🇹🇼 @TECRO_USA Ambassador Alexander Tah-Ray Yui says “Critical minerals is not something that is unsolvable.”

What’s needed is the political will among countries to find a solution, he tells @ACScowcroft’s @Mister_G_2.

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

Comedy, #CCP insecurity, and #Taiwan's 🇹🇼 sovereignty. Pure 🔥

[🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇭© @InsideLucysHead]

Three men were buried under a landslide in China...

They're inside a car when it happened, and miraculously still have a mobile phone connection.

The first man made a phone call to the police:

"I'm a good citizen and husband, please come save us!"

The police tell him they will come for them in 24 hours

The second man made a phone call to the army:

"Comrade, I served the country as you do, please get me out of here!"

The soldier tell him they will come for them in 12 hours

The final man made a phone call to someone, and made a whisper which the other two man can't hear

Within an hour, the men were dug out and rescued

A group of police officers walk up to the weary men and ask,

"Alright, which one of you said Taiwan is a country?"

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

"Responding to Rickover’s critique that the officer-heavy faculty was academically weak, it set out to attract and retain prominent civilian scholars... and, ultimately, became an elite academic institution itself."

@USNIProceedings

https://t.co/53HHDyY27F

[Aaron Connelly @ConnellyAL]

I know that a lot of US Army officers and veterans will be deeply embarrassed by this conduct, which has become a dismal pattern with this account.

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

Values matter. 🇺🇸🇹🇼

[Atlantic Council @AtlanticCouncil]

🇹🇼 @TECRO_USA Ambassador Alexander Tah-Ray Yui: “When we watch Star Trek, we root for Captain Kirk and his crew,” because there’s some “common values that we cherish.”

“When Xi Jinping’s watching Star Trek, he’s probably identifying himself with the Borgs,” he laughs.

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

President Lai 🇹🇼 is spot on.

The #CCP has dismantled the culture and prosperity of every country that #China has annexed. The #PRC is an existential threat to the free world.

Supporting #Taiwan's sovereignty by honoring the Taiwan Relations Act is a critical #US interest. 🇺🇸

[郑敏 @MinMin89485072]

台湾🇹🇼总统赖清德先生说：“香港🇭🇰就是个例子，香港是被迫走���中国，它就失去了全世界，它的经济就不断地下滑，因为中国走坏了，它的大运走完了，因为它在东海南海扩军，然后同时一带一路，这个债务陷阱，也让国际社会看到，中国不是他们所预期的经济进步，就会往民主、重视人权甚至保障智慧财产权的方向走，所以现在大家都已经离开，中国的大运已经走完了，所以香港也跟着倒霉的状况下，台湾应不应该再走回头路？把经济再锁回中国，我想这个都不言而喻，大家都很清楚。”

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

One might say she is acting as a ... 'de facto' agent...

I'll be here all week!

(this is a deep cut joke about #Taiwan's international relations as a consequence of derecognition... de facto independence, de facto embassies, etc..).

Anyways, Taiwan is a country. 🇹🇼

[michaelturton @michaelturton]

Yes, of course she is acting as Beijing's agent.

The Constitution of the ROC -- imposed at gunpoint and enforced by PRC's threats of violence -- does not make China and Taiwan one country.

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

Resources for #military #writers, compiled by the Military Writers Guild Board:

https://t.co/AIpoTz6C8C

[Ted @ted_huang]

On May 28, 1963, Chen Chih-hsiung 陳智雄 became the first activist executed by the KMT for advocating Taiwan independence

Guards chopped his feet and pierced his cheeks to silence him

Still, his final shout was: 台灣獨立萬歲 (Long live Taiwan independence!)

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

Well said.

There is no #ethos without #ethics. 🇺🇸

[The Operational Alchemist @jameskgreer77]

You are confused on two accounts. First, ethics is what separates us from the Nazis or today’s terrorists. Ethics is what ensures we are an Army worthy of our Constitution not just armed thugs. Second, we teach ethics when we teach the Army Values and we practice ethical behavior in daily life at home station, when we are training in the field or at CTCs and when we are deployed and in combat. It is an integral part of everything we do. You can never think about ethics and practice ethical behavior too much, only too little.

Two simple concepts easy to understand, challenging to sustain over time in combat. Anyone can train a unit to engage the enemy, that’s easy. Training them to act ethically while engaged in the emotional hell that is combat is far more difficult. Senior Army leaders understand this, which is why they are senior Army leaders.

[War on the Rocks @WarOnTheRocks]

The military spends years hardening bodies and sharpening minds for combat. It spends almost nothing preparing warfighters for the moment their values collide with the reality of war. https://t.co/vVkOMCObLY

[Brian Kerg @BrianKerg]

There is no #ethos without #ethics.

Read this @WarOnTheRocks article discussing the operational importance of ethics and doctrine for the U.S. military. 🇺🇸🪖

https://t.co/iDRnPXp3gO

[michaelturton @michaelturton]

This is nonsense but it's going to become more and more common over the next few years as an important component of PRC anti-US and anti-Taiwan agitation. Like all such propaganda, it creates a bubble world in which only the US and China exist and Tokyo and Manila do not.