USNI News
Date: October 20, 2020
By:: John Grady

Xi Jinping’s go hard approach to bringing Taiwan to heel isn’t about to let up, but “it would be highly risky” for China to believe the United States would not intervene if it launched an all-out cross-straits invasion, a former senior Trump administration Pentagon official said.

Speaking Monday at an Atlantic Council online forum, Randall Schriver, now chairman of Project 2049, compared the island to the Fulda Gap, a pivotal point in the defense of Western Europe during the Cold War.

While “the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] is getting better” at amphibious warfare, moving “tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands” of troops “across 80 nautical miles of water” and then successfully fighting an active resistance in mountainous terrain is not likely, Schriver said.

China “prefers to win without fighting,” he added. That does not mean Xi is backing down on eventual reunification, a goal he wants to reach by the centennial of the communist takeover of the mainland, which is next year.    [FULL  STORY]