The head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Paparo, has warned that on-and-off Chinese military exercises around Taiwan are not drills, but “rehearsals” for a potential invasion and that China is on “a dangerous course.”
A Wall Street Journal article published on Tuesday reported on an event in Hawaii “attended by the US and more than two dozen allies to sharpen their ability to jointly fight against Beijing.”
One of the speakers was Paparo, a four-star admiral who oversees US forces in the Indo-Pacific region, who laid out a scenario of how to counter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan after warning that “China is on a dangerous course” and that its large-scale drills around Taiwan were “rehearsals, not exercises,” the Journal reported.
Photo: AP
He said the key to an initial stage of a US-China showdown over Taiwan would be “to neutralize China’s radar sites, missile launchers and command centers that hold off the US and its allies,” the Journal said.
China has several types of anti-ship missiles, a sizeable lead in advanced hypersonic weaponry and an edge in its proximity to Taiwan, but the addition of US precision-strike missiles that can sink ships is a “game changer” that “alters China’s risk calculus,” Paparo was cited as saying.
“So, too, do a pair of agile forces working closely with US allies near Taiwan that can hit Chinese targets from land, collect valuable battle space information, and create openings for US air and naval forces to maneuver,” he was cited as saying.
Paparo is known for coining the term “Hellscape” strategy to defend a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
He first used the term during a conference in June last year and reiterated it during a US congressional hearing in Washington last month.
The strategy is that as soon as Chinese forces begin moving across the Taiwan Strait, allied forces would deploy numerous uncrewed submarines, uncrewed surface ships and aerial drones to prevent the advancement of troops.
China has conducted more extensive military drills, including in areas surrounding Taiwan, since its response to then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022.
The most recent large-scale exercises were the two-day “Strait Thunder-2025A” drills last month in parts of the Taiwan Strait conducted by the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command.
These exercises were to serve as “a stern warning” to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said.
Also on Tuesday, US Representative Zach Nunn posted on social media a clip of an interview he did with Falun Gong-affiliated New Tang Dynasty Television on his recent discussion with Paparo on what the US would do should China invade Taiwan.
Nunn said in the interview that as 90 percent of the world’s advanced semiconductors are produced in Taiwan, a decision by China to embargo, blockade or outright invade Taiwan could result in “economic destruction that would rot over the entire world.”
“We’re talking about things we haven’t seen since World War II, economic GDP collapses. No one wants to see this happen, including the American people, or candidly, the Chinese people,” Nunn said. “So we need to have a real-world assessment of what needs to happen.”
During his recent meeting with Paparo, Nunn said he was told that Washington has a “minute-by-minute approach to how to deter, how to stop and how to respond if a Chinese incursion was made in a military sense, upon the island of Taiwan,” but offered no details.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
Speeding and badly maintained roads were the main causes of a school bus accident on a rainy day in Taipei last year that severely injured two people and left 22 with minor injuries, the Taiwan Transportation and Safety Board said. On March 11 last year, a Kang Chiao International School bus overturned inside the Wenshan Tunnel (文山隧道) on the northbound lane of the Xinyi Expressway. The tour bus, owned by Long Lai Co, exceeded the speed limit after entering the tunnel, the board’s investigation found. Sensing that the rear of the vehicle was swaying, the driver attempted to use the service and exhaust