Oriana Skylar Mastro, a U.S. Air Force strategy expert who has long studied China's military and security policies, said in an interview with " The Sun " that the United States needs to prepare urgently. After decades of modernization, the Chinese military already has the largest navy and air force in the world. If a war in the Taiwan Strait suddenly breaks out, the United States will have very few warships and aircraft to invest. This situation will be The hardest to deal with.
Orianna Schuyler Mastro said, Over the years, I have participated in dozens of war simulations and tabletop exercises targeting conflicts in the Taiwan Strait to understand how the conflict would develop. Through these observations, it is clear that China could defeat the United States in just one week after the war broke out. Of course, this does not mean that China can destroy the US military, but that China can occupy Taiwan before the United States enters the war. China has no intention of fighting a protracted war with the U.S. military, which is still technologically superior. But when the People's Liberation Army lands in Taiwan, the United States will be unable to do anything. Occupying Taiwan will represent victory, equivalent to their defeat of the United States.
Mastro said that although the U.S. military is still the most powerful in the world, with the most advanced aircraft carriers and fighter jets in the world, and has many military bases in the Indo-Pacific region, once a conflict breaks out, it will be violent and rapid. land. The US military has only two air force bases here that can allow aircraft to reach the Taiwan Strait without refueling, but China has 39 air force bases. And the most important thing is that China's huge missile arsenal can attack these military bases of the US military in the saturation attack mode. If they think they have no choice, they can only preemptively attack the US military in the area. A large-scale missile salvo can destroy 160% of the US military's combat aircraft.
At the same time, China's missiles can also hit US military ships at sea to suppress the US's main power projection tool aircraft carrier . In this case, no matter how good the U.S. soldiers are and their rich combat experience, it will not matter. After attacking the US military base, a rain of missiles will descend on Taiwan, destroying their air defense system and key targets, and then stage a large-scale amphibious landing operation. In this attack mode, Taiwan will surrender.
In recent years, China's military strength has been greatly developed, and a large number of anti-access weapons are in service, such as Dongfeng-21D, Dongfeng-26, Dongfeng-17, etc. These weapons will become a deterrent to the US military after the conflict in the Taiwan Strait breaks out. The backbone of intervention.
Mastro said that in addition to facing the attacks of these anti-access weapons, the People's Liberation Army will also conduct network attacks and electronic warfare . If the U.S. military wants to intervene in the conflict across the Taiwan Strait, it is bound to project power over long distances. China may sabotage this aspect, such as attacking networks like and of the U.S. Military Transportation Command. At the same time, China also has the ability to paralyze communications, navigation, intelligence collection and command and control, especially satellites, so that the United States cannot interfere in the Taiwan Strait. Unlike the U.S. military, the People's Liberation Army can use more secure network systems at home, such as fiber optic cables.
Of course, there is another most important premise. Mastro believes that if the United States really wants to intervene in the Taiwan Strait conflict, the existing number of US military bases in the region is not enough. The United States needs nearby allies to open airstrips, Ports and supply depots, etc. But when a conflict breaks out, these U.S. allies, such as South Korea, may stay out. China's military strength is stronger than Russia's, and its economic scale is larger. China is the largest trading partner of many countries. It is difficult for the United States to block China in the same way as it isolates Russia.
Mastro has made similar remarks many times. As an expert on China’s military, she is very clear about China’s current strength.She once said that the growth of China's military strength has undergone tremendous changes compared with more than 20 years ago. During the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996, President Creighton sent two US military aircraft carrier battle groups to cross the Taiwan Strait to deter China. On the mainland, at that time, China's well-trained army and basically obsolete navy and air force were completely unable to deal with the US aircraft carrier. They could not even find the exact location of the US aircraft carrier. However, more than 20 years later, China is not only able to accurately locate the US military aircraft carrier, but also deploys a large number of precision guided weapons to suppress the US military aircraft carrier. With China's current strength, the consideration must not be whether the US military will intervene in the Taiwan Strait conflict, but whether China can defeat the United States in a war across the Taiwan Strait. Therefore, Mastro believes that the United States should prepare early.
Instead of worrying about this or that, why don’t you ask yourself why the United States interferes in other people’s internal affairs? Taiwan has been China's territory since ancient times. The recovery of Taiwan is China's own family matter. This is the inevitable development of history. If the United States insists on going its own way, the consequences will be unbearable for the United States.
