This can't be good........
"China is on the warpath and is preparing to unleash a
"storm" on Taiwan, a former top US intelligence officer
warned.
The doomsday prediction comes from Mike Studeman, a
former commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence
and director for intelligence of the Indo-Pacific
Command.
China's President, Xi Jinping, has long seen it as his
historical mission to reunite Taiwan with the mainland
and has referred to reunification as the essence of
national rejuvenation.
Beijing has steadily been ratcheting up the
psychological pressure on Taipei, sending its warplanes
to violate Taiwan's airspace on an ever-increasing
basis.
In an analysis for the website warontherocks.com, Mr
Studeman pointed to several factors that clearly
indicated that the Chinese strongman was on the "march
to war".
Firstly, he argued that leadership changes implemented
at the 20th Party Congress in 2022 had turned the
Politburo into a de-facto war cabinet.
Fifteen out of its 24 members now had considerable
Taiwan-related experience, whose knowledge and
expertise would be crucial in a potential war scenario.
The former US commander then highlighted the immense
drive to modernise and expand the army of the People's
Republic.
He said: "China's hyper-militarisation represents the
greatest build-up of arms since the end of the Cold
War.
"In 2020, Xi accelerated significant military
milestones from 2035 to 2027 because he wanted China's
military to modernise faster and give him Taiwan
options earlier.
"The People's Liberation Army has since built vast
underground complexes, a modernised and proliferated
space layer, thick aircraft and air defences, and the
world's largest navy."
He added: "China also created a Strategic Support
Force, which integrates space, electronic warfare, and
cyber capabilities.
"And it boasts the most active and sophisticated
ballistic missile force in the world."
At the same time, China has invested vast resources
into bringing its nuclear forces up to speed.
Mr Studeman noted that the former commander of US
Strategic Command, Admiral Charles Richard, repeatedly
called China's nuclear force advances "breathtaking,"
"explosive," and a "strategic breakout."
He went on to describe Xi's drive to prioritise
security over the economy as "perhaps the most telling
of all war preparation indicators."
The former naval commander said Xi had studied the
impact of Western sanctions on Russia and had
subsequently taken measures to ensure China's economy
could resist similar pressure.
In a gloomy conclusion, he predicted that a storm from
Beijing was heading to Taiwan."
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