TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — US Army Pacific Commander General Ronald P. Clark said Friday that constant surveillance by countries of the Taiwan Strait makes a Chinese invasion unlikely.
Clark made the remarks during the latest Strategic Landpower Dialogue event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, per CNA. He was responding to a question about what lessons the Chinese military may have learned from US operations and how they might be internalizing those lessons in theory and practice.
He said the first lesson the PLA has learned is that the skill and will displayed by US forces, particularly American soldiers, demonstrates that they are “lethal and ready.” Whether it’s seeing, sensing, striking, protecting, or sustaining operations, the PLA cannot match these capacities.
The second lesson is closely related to Taiwan, Clark said, explaining that the US military devotes significant time to developing ways to defeat a cross-strait invasion, “which is the most dangerous course of action.” At the division and core headquarters levels, US operational planning is centered around the most difficult problem set: “a wet gap crossing, the crossing of a body of water.”
He said that crossing a body of water to conduct such an operation requires a broad array of capabilities. China would have to cross a strait roughly 128 km (80 miles) wide, a stretch of water "that's being watched by an unblinking eye” made up of multiple countries coordinating on deterring Beijing from launching such an operation.
“The chance of being able to conduct an uncontested or successful wet gap crossing of that scale is very, very small,” he stressed. Clark added that the US is investing heavily in making this challenge even more difficult for China.
Clark said this is primarily achieved by strengthening partnerships across the region. He also pointed out that US allies and partners are conducting operations in the Taiwan Strait, working closely to build the joint capabilities necessary to “contest their again aggressive, belligerent, and coercive activities across the region.”
Internally, he said the US military is focused on ensuring all service members understand the importance of their mission and recognize that “we're in this thing together.”
