Posted on 10/08/2021 6:36:29 AM PDT by nuconvert
A new report from The Wall Street Journal says that contingents of U.S. special operations forces and U.S. Marines have been making more regular rotational deployments to Taiwan for at least a year now. This news comes a day after Chiu Kuo Cheng, the island's defense minister, said publicly that Chinese forces would be capable of launching a "full-scale" invasion operation across the Taiwan Strait with far fewer risks than they face now by 2025.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
As much as I hate to give this odious man and his handlers the credit, if that was the reason it was the right move.
We are able to consolidate our forces and at the same time drop that tar-baby into China’s lap.
On the other hand, suppose China is able to subdue Afghanistan? The Taliban has met its match in ruthlessness.
In any case, the conflict has moved from the economic into the military, geopolitical sphere. It could have remained in the former under Trump.
Ha! By 2025? That gives Taiwan and Australia the time it needs to finish building and deploying their new submarines. Currently the Chinese have insufficient amphibious ships for an invasion. Even if they build more, sinking a couple will seriously effect their capabilities.
There are two kinds of weapons that Taiwan needs to add to its arsenal ASAP. The first are small, cheap naval mines, not against warships, but against a giant flotilla of small boats.
“Coffee can” floating mines with a small electronic controller. Drop a hundred thousand of these in the current of the Taiwan strait, and they drift into the flotilla, blowing basketball sized holes just below the waterline.
They aren’t designed against warships with thicker hulls, but smaller, and non-warship ships with thin hulls, likely transporting troops would be compromised with one and sunk with two.
The other weapon recreates, sort of, the Buzz bomb of WWII.
Designed to be as cheap as an economy car, with a beer can body and old style fly by wire, with a cheap computer brain, a gas tank, a prop engine, and a large iron bomb. Ramp launched. Suicide mission.
Hundreds of these could be made for the price of a single high performance jet. The jet could shoot down say a dozen, this still leaves 80+ bombs heading to their targets.
Even if their brain is fried at some point, they will continue on to target.
“Could this Taiwan situation have been the impetus for the Afghan Skedaddle?”
I don’t think it explains why we couldn’t leave 2,500 troops there with another 500-1,000 NATO troops & allied forces transiting through as necessary.
The skedaddle was totally on Biden. He wanted glory & a medal for “ending the war”. He’s an idiot.
The CCP's Taiwan reconciliation strategy will be much larger than Taiwan.
China will also blockade the Phillipines as the main bargaining chip. For example, China owns 2GO, the main Phillipine ferry service. They will shut down Phillipine intra-island travel and freight overnight.
While the Taiwanese execute their orderly island home defense plan, the Phillipines' social order will dissolve overnight, with a +/-250,000 US ex-pats at risk, as opposed to only +/-5,000 permanent US residents in Taiwan.
This Chinese pre-scripted event (koof koof, ahem, as well-scripted as COVID) will give our puppet-state the opportunity to 'stand down' when China 'gives back' the Phillipines, in exchange for China keeping Taiwan.
I do not consider Vietnam a retreat. We kicked the commies on every OP I was on. Now, we had punks in office who sold us out like Biden. UW wars are not for conventional Army units.
"I dare you to knock this off. I dare you!"
I am sure that there are MANY generals in the PLA, who realize that an all out attack on the ROC would endanger or kill US troops, which SHOULD (as opposed to 'would', if there were a REAL leader in the Presidency) bring the US military into action. The $64 trillion (inflation, you realize) question is, how many ACTUAL military men are there in the PLA, as opposed to just Xi Jinping 'yes men'?
Maranatha.
The Wallstreet Journal reporting this seems designed to help the Chinese with their propaganda efforts. China may go to war due to their imploding economy and the media conveniently gives them an excuse.
Maybe it’s training.
Great question!
Don’t tell Joe.
The skedaddle was still singularly inept and feckless, not to mention bloody. Taiwan would have been much safer if it had been competently done, impetus or no.
A couple of carrier groups can be deployed if they aren’t already there. But that’s just contesting the sea and air, not controlling it. This might get hot.
“Who leaked it and why?”
ask Chinese general Milley..
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