China and US Continue Show of Force in Pacific as Taiwan Remains a Potential Battleground

Video Above: China’s Navy is Larger than the US but can it Compete?

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

At the risk of oversimplifying, it could be somewhat accurate to describe the US and Chinese maritime maneuvers with warships, carrier exercises and combat drills, as something of a “cat and mouse game.”

The US, for example, conducted “dual-carrier” operations in the Pacific last year to synchronize massive amounts of air-power projection through expanded sortie rates and multi-domain networking between the ships and their respective Carrier Air Wings. Several months after this development, sure enough China conducted its first “dual-carrier” operations launching fighter planes from its first two carriers in coordination with each other.

US & China Show of Force

China clearly seeks to counter or mask the US Navy’s forward presence in the Pacific, a mission which places the US in an optimal position to defend Taiwan in the region should they suddenly become necessary. 

This is the rationale upon which the Navy conducts its forward maritime security mission and war readiness exercises with key allies such as Japan. Should the Navy be close enough to respond with long-range cruise missiles and sea-launched 5th-generation airpower, the US could indeed be well positioned to blunt, slow down, incapacitate or simply destroy any Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan.

This dynamic of course continues to lead China to conduct aggressive live fire war drills in the South China Sea, East China Sea and other areas throughout the region. For example, a large continent of Chinese warships operated in close coordination with land-launched fighter jets to encircle and threaten Taiwan in a transparent effort to show the US and its Allies that it is capable of quickly annexing Taiwan.