The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said.
General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.”
Photo: Screen grab from the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ YouTube channel
The second lesson is specifically on the Taiwan issue, “because that’s where we spend a lot of our time thinking about how to counter cross-strait invasion, which is the most dangerous course of action,” in particular, “how hard that [invasion] is.”
The US Army builds its warfighter program at the division and corps levels to counter a “wet gap crossing” — a military maneuver designed to facilitate the crossing of a body of water, he said.
In the context of Taiwan, it refers to a military operation in which Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops and equipment are moved across the Taiwan Strait.
“We’re talking about an adversary [China] that has to cross an 80-mile [129km] wet gap that’s being watched by an unblinking eye, multiple countries working together to deter them from that activity,” he said.
The chances of being able to conduct “an uncontested or successful wet gap crossing of that scale” are “very, very small,” the general added.
“So our efforts to continue to make that problem set more difficult for the Chinese is where we spend a lot of our time,” the US Army general added.
The US is building partnerships across the region with allies and partners in conducting Taiwan Strait transits, he said.
“They’re working closely together to build the interoperability necessary to contest their [China’s] aggressive, belligerent and coercive activities across the region,” he added.
“It’s us focusing on our people to ensure that our teammates understand the importance of their mission, and that we’re in this thing together,” Clark said.
Clark assumed command of USARPAC on Nov. 8 last year.
The US Army Pacific is headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, with elements of the command forward-deployed and stationed throughout the Indo-Pacific, according to information on USARPAC’s Web site.
The US military, sometimes joined by allies, makes regular, almost monthly transits through the Taiwan Strait in what it calls “freedom of navigation” exercises.
Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Japan have also conducted similar Taiwan Strait transits with warships and warplanes.
Most recently, the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey transited the Taiwan Strait on June 18.
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