21.03.2023

China, US could first try to knock out each other's weapons guidance satellites

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In a new CBS broadcast released on Sunday (March 19), Pentagon officials were cited as saying if China launches an assault on Taiwan, war could first break out in space.

In a "60 Minutes" segment on Taiwan about the status of the U.S. Navy amid the Chinese navy's buildup and threat to Taiwan, Norah O'Donnell cited several Pentagon sources as stating that if China attacks Taiwan, hostilities could first begin in outer space. The officials predicted that the militaries of China and the U.S. would seek to destroy the satellites of their opponents that "enable precision-guided weaponry."

They added that this could be followed by cyber attacks on U.S. cities and the sabotage of West Coast ports in the continental U.S. When O-Donnell asked U.S. Navy (USN) Admiral Samuel Paparo what the U.S. response would be in the event of a larger crisis involving the South China Sea or Taiwan, he said:

We'll hope that they'll answer the phone. Else, we'll do our very best assessment, based on the things that they say in open source, and based on their behavior to divine their intentions. And we'll act accordingly."

Asked to describe the most concerning aspect of China's military buildup over the past two decades, USN Admiral Michael Gilday said that beyond the growth of China's conventional forces, what is also disturbing is the expansion of its cyber and space capabilities. Gilday added that the U.S. is alarmed at the ways in which the People's Liberation Army Navy is pushing other country's navies out of certain sectors of the South China Sea, and rather than abiding by international law, "they want to control where those goods flow and how."

Quelle: Taiwan News