TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan must do more to prepare for a Chinese invasion, John Noh, the US Defense Department's assistant secretary for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs nominee, said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Noh commended Taiwan for increasing its defense budget to 3% of its GDP. He said the actions taken by President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) were “promising.” 

However, he said, “There are also a lot of things that Taiwan can and must do urgently to prepare for a potential invasion scenario.”

He urged Taiwan to reform its “training, mobilization, civil military integration, hardening its infrastructure, strengthening its cybersecurity practices.”

Noh also said Taiwan needed to spend more on defense, ideally 10% of its GDP, to acquire the necessary asymmetric capabilities to fend off China. 

He pledged to provide his “best advice and recommendations on the different tools we have at our disposal” to expedite US arms sales to Taiwan, including through Foreign Military Sales, Presidential Drawdown Authority, or the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative.

Noh previously served as deputy general counsel on the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.