The tension between China and the US does not decrease. Eight days ago eleven warships and 70 Chinese fighters had been the protagonists of a military maneuver around Taiwan, today we learn that the American destroyer Uss Milius made on Sunday “a routine transit in the Taiwan Strait in waters where the freedom of navigation and overflight on the high seas in accordance with international law,” notes a few days after Beijing concluded its latest war games around the island. The ship, the US Seventh Fleet announced, passed through the corridor in the Strait “which lies beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state”.
The operation, reads a note, “demonstrates US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific“. The response of the People’s Republic arrived immediately afterwards. The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army “has fully monitored the passage operations of the US warship”, the destroyer Uss Milius, through the Taiwan Strait, maintaining “always a high level of alert at all times” in order to “resolutely defend national sovereignty and security” as well as “regional peace and stability”. In the note from Command spokesman Shi Yi, the US is accused of having “publicly exalted” its operation carried out yesterday and announced this morning.
According to US intelligence, in the event of an air attack by China against Taiwan, the island would be in a position of extreme vulnerability and would probably succumb. In classified papers, the Pentagon points out that, although Chinese military exercises in the Straits have intensified in recent weeks, an attack on Taiwan would also be difficult for China. But the Taipei forces still have disturbing “deficits”. Taiwanese air defense units do not have a “common operational picture” or secure radios for communications. Secondly, US intelligence fears that Taiwan’s generals “may hesitate to send fighter planes for fear of an escalation, even in the event of threats of imminent air raids”. Furthermore, it would be the military leaders of the island themselves who fear that their systems are not able to “precisely detect missile launches”, despite the fact that in an official statement the Ministry of Defence has ensured that “our systems have been carefully designed based on the type of threats that come from our enemies”.
For months, if not years, the United States has been busy making sure that Taiwan’s army is able to respond to any attacks from Beijing. In recent times, the US government has been secretly pushing Taipei to strengthen its defense even con unconventional systems such as anti-ship missiles and other advanced weapons who are more likely to resist the overpowering Chinese military. And Taiwan has in fact bought Harpoon missiles, Stinger missiles and high mobility artillery systems, the famous Himars sent to Ukraine. However, in the top secret files, there is a warning that in the event of a conflict, China “most likely” it will use its space capabilities to disable American satellites thus preventing Washington from capturing strategic information and passing it on to the island. Beijing could also rely on satellites for long-range strikes against US ships, submarines and jets scattered across the Pacific. Furthermore, the Pentagon fears that China’s tactic of using civilian ships for military purposes will “confuse” US intelligence and make it unable to anticipate an imminent invasion.
The latest revelations also mention at least two other Chinese spy balloons that flew over the United States or critical American infrastructure two years ago in addition to the one shot down last February. One flew over a US aircraft carrier and the other crashed in the South China Sea. Furthermore, one of the two was connected to the Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, one of the six Chinese companies sanctioned by the US in February precisely for their involvement in the espionage program. As for this year’s aircraft, which intelligence agencies have called Killeen-23, it emerged that it was made up of a series of sophisticated sensors and antennas not yet identified by American experts a week after the downing.