Last Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping was re-elected as president for a third term in a unanimous vote by the National People’s Congress.
Xi’s grip on power has potentially secured him the position for life, and he is executing China’s grand plan to re-establish control over Taiwan.
Taiwan, which broke away from communist China in 1949, is crucial to Beijing’s plans, and China appears willing to tussle with Washington over its long-term fate.
As the only nation standing between China and Taiwan, the US battle readiness has never been more vital.
However, the US remains woefully unprepared, even as every sign from Xi suggests that he’s readying himself to rumble.
First, the war drums have been getting louder. In October, Xi installed a “War Cabinet” composed of seven men, all of whom are Xi loyalists, after removing advisors favoring reforms from the all-powerful Politburo.
The next month, during a visit to China’s operational command center, Xi directed his military to be ready for war. CIA Director William Burns estimates that Beijing wants to be conflict-ready by 2027.
Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, however, forecasts that the US and China “will fight in 2025.”
He suggests that China will mount an attack on Taiwan while Americans are distracted by the upcoming presidential election.
Xi is also banking on America’s inability to simultaneously prosecute a war with both Russia and China, which is why he may act on Taiwan sooner rather than later – while the Russia-Ukraine war is ongoing.
Indeed, with Xi set to meet Vladimir Putin in Russia next week, China is paying close attention to activities out of Moscow.
Meanwhile, as China augments its fighting prowess on the ground, it’s also beefing up defense capabilities in space as part of its Taiwan-invasion toolbox.
Between 2019 and 2021, China doubled its number of orbiting satellites from 250 to 499, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency.
During wartime, satellites deliver everything from missile warning and navigation to reconnaissance and command-and-control efforts.
On Tuesday, US Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman revealed that over the past six months, China launched dozens of spacecraft to target US forces.
At the same time, the Chinese military is developing and fielding weapons to attack US satellites and “blind and deafen” US forces.
These weapons include kinetic-kill missiles, ground-based lasers, electronic warfare systems, directed energy weapons, and orbiting space robots.
Beyond space defenses, China is already looking to implement nuclear lessons learned from the Russia-Ukraine war.
By 2035, China will likely triple its nuclear arsenal to 1,500 warheads, according to the Pentagon. Beijing’s other WMD programs include chemical and biological warfare (CBW).
Beijing has missiles, rockets, and artillery that could likely be adapted to deliver CBW agents.
Scientist’s at the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Fifth Institute of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Wuhan are conducting coronavirus research as part of China’s national biological weapons program.
A weaponized engineered coronavirus could create another pandemic.
And the notion of unleashing a COVID-like virus on the US in the run-up to a Chinese attack on Taiwan has already been linked to China.
Such an attack would require China to augment and upgrade its current forces to outmatch their US counterparts in any cross-strait attack.
And this is already happening. Existing PLA rockets can almost certainly reach US forces and bases in the region. China’s 350 or so battleships now outnumber those of the US by nearly a quarter.
The PLA is also ramping up military drills in the South China Sea, practicing tactics that would deny access to the US Navy.
»Why China appears ready to go to war with the US over Taiwan«
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