US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said the US is confident it could defeat China in the Pacific, but that technical advantage is shrinking, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
Speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum on Saturday, Paparo said the US needs to maintain its technical lead over China by enhancing missile technology and building a communications network able to withstand hackers, the paper reported.
Although the US is able to hit long-distance and difficult targets with its advanced cruise missile system, each launch costs more than US$1 million, he said.
Photo: AFP
By contrast, drones, which are relatively cheap to build and develop, can be remotely controlled to fight on the front lines through a computer, he said.
Paparo also told the forum that Russia and North Korea had reached an agreement on Moscow providing fourth-generation Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets in exchange for Pyongyang sending troops to help in the fight against Ukraine, the report said.
Pyongyang, rather than Moscow, proposed sending North Korean troops to Ukraine, Paparo said, adding that the condition was set so that Pyongyang could also obtain ballistic missile re-
entry technology and submarine-related technology from Moscow.
In another forum organized by the Brookings Institution on Nov. 19, Paparo said that North Korea on Oct. 31 tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that reached an altitude of 7,000km.
“Even though Pyongyang continues to test long-range missiles with adequate range to reach the US ... the US has not yet seen evidence that North Korea has mastered the difficult task of building re-entry vehicles that could contain nuclear warheads, and that could withstand atmospheric resistance and heating when returning from space at a speed of 7km per second. This may help explain why the testing continues,” he said.
While some analysts have warned that China has caught up to the US military for scenarios involving Taiwan, and many US wargames predict that China would succeed in defeating the US and its allies, China would face difficult odds whether in a D-Day-style invasion or a more indirect coercive approach like a blockade, Paparo said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had given his military leaders the task of being ready to take Taiwan by 2027, even in the face of US military involvement, but it does not represent a decision to attack that year or any particular year, he said.
However, the US Indo-Pacific Command must be ready to help defend Taiwan even before 2027, and it should certainly plan on being prepared to defend Taiwan after that year as well, Paparo added.
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