May 26, 2024

America’s New Island Fighters Are Preparing for Conflict—a Stone’s Throw From Taiwan

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Journalist: Niharika Mandhana

If China moved to invade Taiwan, American forces would want to shift some U.S. warplanes to these sites. The idea would be to disperse U.S. aircraft across an array of bases and even civilian airfields in the region to make it harder for China to target them and to provide the U.S. different avenues for strike, said Becca Wasser, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security who runs wargames.

The Marine littoral regiments, meanwhile, would mobilize to try to restrain the Chinese fleet within the first-island chain, Wasser said. That is, block them from moving outside the first-island chain and from threatening American forces attacking from further back.

The Marines would also aim to counter China’s “anti-access” strategy aimed at locking down the area and making it too dangerous for U.S. forces to come close to Taiwan.

Read the full story and more from The Wall Street Journal.

Author

  • Becca Wasser

    Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Defense Program

    Becca Wasser is a Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Defense Program and lead of The Gaming Lab at the Center for a New American Security. Her research areas include def...