Experts Depict How China Could Destroy US Bases as Beijing, Washington Spat Over Suspected Taiwan Invasion

Despite Taiwan's claims to sovereignty since its separation from the mainland in 1949, China has pledged to retake the island.

The US is expected to try to protect Taiwan, with President Joe Biden promising to act "militarily" against China. Fears are mounting that an empowered Beijing may ultimately initiate military action to reclaim the separatist island in a conflict that might be much more devastating than Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

US Prepares for "Wrong Kind of War," Experts Claim

Foreign policy experts Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warn in their new book Defending Taiwan that the conflict might start with China executing a pre-emptive assault on US forces.

The "most concerning" scenario, according to Brands and Beckley, would see Beijing seek to execute a "surprise missile assault" on American forces in Asia. It would be a comparable strike to Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese sought to destroy the majority of US naval force in the Pacific at the beginning of World war II, The Scottish Sun reported.

The experts claim that the US is preparing for the "wrong kind of war" over Taiwan in the chapter 'Getting Ready for a Long War' in the book for the American Enterprise Institute. Both military are preparing for a "beautiful little war."

They do warn, however, that military leaders in China and the United States will be engaged in a protracted, grinding battle with a considerable risk of nuclear war. Brands and Beckley detail how Beijing will strive to restrict any US retaliation in a worst-case scenario for the first day of the conflict.

The enormous assault will be followed by cyberattacks and anti-satellite operations in an attempt to create confusion and prevent Taiwan and the US from responding effectively. The US military maintains more than a dozen sites near Taiwan and China.

The formidable Seventh Fleet is Washington's major source of influence in the region. Between 50 and 70 warships, including aircraft carriers, submarines, destroyers, cruisers, and assault ships, are deployed by the fleet.

The fleet, which also has roughly 150 aircraft, employs around 27,000 sailors and marines. Meanwhile, China would try to eliminate this vital asset right at the outset of the battle, boasting about its "carrier killer" missiles and other anti-ship weapons.

Taiwan Scrambles Jets To Warn China

In the latest flare-up in tensions and the greatest intrusion since late May, Taiwan scrambled planes on Tuesday to alert Chinese aircraft in its air defense identification zone, including bombers that flew to the south of the island and into the Pacific.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has protested about Chinese air force operations near the democratically administered island for the past two years or more, particularly in the southern area of its air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.

China's recurrent military maneuvers in the vicinity are referred to in Taiwan as gray zone warfare since they are intended to both wear out Taiwanese forces by forcing them to scramble and to test Taiwanese responses.

According to Taiwan's defense ministry, the newest Chinese mission featured 17 fighters and six H-6 bombers, as well as electronic warfare, early warning, antisubmarine, and aerial refueling aircraft. A map given by the government indicates several of the planes flew to the northeast of the Pratas, as per VOA News.

However, the bombers flew through the Bashi Channel, which divides Taiwan from the Philippines, and into the Pacific before returning to China by the same path they came in.

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