Airman Anthony Hyler signals to a CH-53E Super Stallion on the flight deck of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset in the South China Sea, May 24, 2024. (Evan Diaz/U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. has witnessed in recent months a historic amount of large military exercises conducted by China, the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Tuesday as he sounded the alarm about a potential invasion of Taiwan.
“Over the summer, I saw the most rehearsal and the most joint exercises from the People’s Republic of China that I had ever seen — with the widest geography, the most joint operations for air, missile, maritime power that I had seen over an entire career of being an observer,” Adm. Samuel Paparo said during a Brookings Institution panel.
A fleet of 152 vessels, as well as 200 combat amphibious vehicles, were spotted on a single day, Paparo said, which was evidence of an upward trajectory and modernization of the People’s Liberation Army.
The People’s Republic of China has indicated its forces would be ready for conflict by 2027. The country has a growing interest in invading Taiwan. China regards the democratically governed island as a renegade province that must, at some point, accede to Beijing’s control.
China’s military in recent years has increasingly encroached on Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the area just beyond its airspace.
In May, China simulated bomber attacks and ship-boardings during two days of military exercises around Taiwan. On Tuesday, Paparo said China conducted a second military demonstration near Taiwan in October that coincided with the Taiwan National Day holiday.
Adm. Samuel Paparo leads a talk at the Indo-Pacific Irregular Warfare Symposium in Honolulu on Aug. 15, 2024. (Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes)
Additionally, Paparo highlighted, China has a growing partnership with Russia. In July, Russian and Chinese bombers were spotted flying together near Alaska for the first time. Last week, Vice Adm. Peter Gautier, deputy commandant for U.S. Coast Guard operations, told lawmakers the service recently witnessed the Russian border guard and Chinese coast guard conducting a joint patrol high in the Bering Sea, marking the first time the two countries have conducted joint operations in Arctic.
“This is the military environment that we find ourselves in in 2024,” Paparo said.
Now, conflicts around the world — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Iran-backed proxy groups — are eating up U.S. inventory of high-end capabilities, such as Patriot air defense missiles, Paparo said.
“Inherently, it imposes costs on the readiness of America to respond in the Indo-Pacific region, which is the most stressing theater for the quantity and quality of munitions, because the [People’s Republic of China] is the most capable potential adversary in the world,” he said.
In August, the U.S. purchased approximately $19.6 million worth of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors, or PAC-3 missiles, the Japanese Defense Ministry’s agency for acquisition, technology and logistics said in a Sunday news release. The number of missiles included in the deal was not disclosed.
The U.S. promised to send Ukraine 500 Patriot missiles and short-to-medium range missiles early this month, the Wall Street Journal reported.
U.S. stocks of PAC-3 missiles, commonly used in the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system, have decreased over the past year due to U.S. support for Ukraine.
Paparo said he is “dissatisfied” with the U.S. magazine depth and stressed a need to “replenish those stocks, and then some.”
“The closer we get to [2027], the less relevant that date is, and the more we must be ready today, tomorrow, next month, next year and onward,” Paparo said.
Stars and Stripes reporter Wyatt Olson contributed to this report.
