Three senators from across the aisle in the U.S. Senate landed at Taipei’s Songshan Airport on June 6 this year on a U.S. military transport plane. I remember one year when I went to Taiwan and stayed at the Yuanshan Hotel in Taipei, I was watching the scenery from my balcony when I suddenly noticed that there was an airport in the middle of the city not far from my left. Because every time I go to Taiwan, I always go through Taoyuan International Airport, never through this Taipei’s other, medium-sized international airport and military base. The U.S. military aircraft that went to Taiwan this time was the famous C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft, the first U.S. military transport aircraft of this type to land on the treasure island of Taiwan.
The landing was historic, and the picture of the C-17 Globemaster leaving Taipei and sweeping over the Taipei 101 building from the air was impressive and raised many questions and speculations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Was this an accidental, unscheduled charity trip by an elected U.S. Congressman to stop over in Taiwan and deliver vaccines to Taiwan? Certainly not. Upon careful analysis of this unique trip, one can easily conclude that the arrival of the U.S. military aircraft in Taiwan was a carefully calculated strategy and a tactical operation of substantial significance.
The three U.S. senators on board the C-17 strategic transport aircraft were Tammy Duckworth (D-CA) and Dan Sullivan (D-CA) of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Christopher Coons (D-CA) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The three of them made the trip to Taiwan for a brief three-hour stop after their visit to South Korea. The C-17 Globemaster is part of the U.S. Air Force, while the USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76 is part of the Navy. The USS Ronald Reagan is part of the Navy, and the AIT has given advance warning, so this is a joint operation by the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force.
Taiwan lacked a vaccine against the Chinese Communist virus, and the U.S. was willing to assist. One would have thought that the 750,000 doses of vaccine were brought there at random. No, there were not these 750,000 doses of vaccine on the plane! The three senators were just on such a big plane and “announced” the donation of 750,000 doses of vaccines to Taiwan after landing at Songshan Airport. Instead of visiting Tsai Ing-wen at the presidential palace a few kilometers away, the president rushed to the airport to meet with the three senators just to hear them announce the vaccine donation? What a grand announcement ceremony!
These three senators, not visiting Taiwan for sightseeing, probably didn’t have much chance to taste Taiwanese snacks and not see the Taipei night market because they only stopped for three hours! They should also not be any goodwill ambassadors, medicine delivery angels or peace angels or anything like that, but powerful characters with swords in their hands, performing their job duties. They could be described as the Three Musketeers from America! What are their duties? What does it have to do with Taiwan? What does it have to do with security in the Taiwan Strait?
People know that Senator Tammy Duckworth is a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, but she is also a member of the Subcommittee on Airland, Tactical Readiness, and Management Support. She is a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, but is also a member of the Subcommittee on Airland, the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, and the Subcommittee on Nuclear Strike Force. Strategic Forces. “The Subcommittees on Readiness and Management Support and on Strategic Forces are responsible for the tactical flight programs of the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as the Air Force Reserve and the National Guard. The Subcommittee on Tactical Readiness and Management Support is responsible for the U.S. military’s logistics, equipment, base operations, military facilities construction, and arsenal construction; the Subcommittee on Nuclear Strike Forces is responsible for U.S. nuclear weapons, nuclear deterrence, the Space Program of the Space Force, and ballistic missile defense.
Senator Dan Sullivan (D-CA) is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as is Ms. Tammy Duckworth (D-CA), and is also a member of the Land, Air, and Sea Subcommittee, the Tactical Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, and the Tactical Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee. and the Nuclear Strike Force Subcommittee.
These two senators’ trip to Taiwan should not be a vaccine delivery, but must be directly related to the U.S. military’s negotiations, planning, and even specific deployments in Taiwan related to Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps tactical flight programs, logistics equipment, base operations, military facilities construction, arsenal construction, the Space Program for the Pacific Air Force, and ballistic missile defense programs.
Senator Christopher Coons (D-Delaware), who has nothing at all to do with the military, is a member of the Senate Appropriations, Foreign Affairs, and Judiciary Committees, and in particular the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity ( Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy). Coons joined the team not because of his influence on military-related projects, but because of his need to work with Taiwan in addressing the Chinese Communist Party’s cybersecurity.
The landing of the U.S. C-17 military aircraft was not only a rare first, but it was an open, clear, large and unhurried entry and exit in broad daylight. The U.S. military did not even bother to cover up its markings. Some Taiwanese scholars believe that the C-17’s first landing in Taiwan was a demonstration of the U.S. military’s emergency transport capability. This is a big fallacy, and the analysts simply do not get the point.
The main purpose of the Three Musketeers is not at all the issue of epidemic prevention or cooperation on chips and vaccines. Although the U.S. Secretary of State has indicated that trade and investment talks with Taiwan may resume and may even talk about a comprehensive trade agreement between the U.S. and Taiwan, this is obviously not the purpose of the visit of the three Musketeers. The purpose of the Three Musketeers can only be the military and security cooperation between Taiwan and the United States, a matter of how the U.S. military is deployed in and around Taiwan. Clearly, U.S. and Taiwanese officials have a fuller understanding of the crisis of war in the Taiwan Strait, and its escalation. It seems that the U.S. is ready to fight the CCP in the Taiwan Strait and will not stand idly by when the crisis comes, but will be the first to intervene, even preemptively, to eliminate the CCP’s threat.
The Chinese Communist Party’s attitude toward the U.S. military aircraft’s trip to Taipei was very “low-key” despite the sarcasm and sarcasm from people at home and abroad, which was quite unusual. Because the Chinese Communist Party’s generals have long clamored that “the moment the U.S. military lands on Taiwan is the time when the Chinese Communist Party liberates Taiwan”, “the U.S. military aircraft landing and taking off in Taiwan has stepped on the red line of the Chinese Communist Party …… Taiwan Strait war will start here ” and other statements. The Chinese Communist Party’s reaction certainly shows its strong outside nature, but the U.S. move is precisely to seize the soft underbelly of the Chinese Communist Party, so that Zhongnanhai is very annoyed, but can not be seized, have to swallow this breath. Of course, the U.S. will not arrange such a big battle just to take a breath, but has another plan.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman replied to a reporter’s question that day, not even daring to mention the word “U.S. military aircraft”, only saying that “the U.S. Congressman’s visit to Taiwan and his meeting with Taiwan’s leaders is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the Sino-U.S. Joint Communiqué, which China firmly opposes and has raised with the U.S. side The Chinese side is resolutely opposed to this, and has made serious representations to the U.S. side.” A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) also laid down his position, merely repeating the Foreign Ministry’s statement that “U.S. lawmakers are using the Taiwan issue to stage a political show, challenging the one-China principle and trying to achieve the so-called ‘Taiwan-Chinese’ objective.”
By sending military aircraft to land in Taiwan this time, the U.S. has gone beyond the purpose of testing the bottom line of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and is not just giving the CCP a downward spiral, but is actively countering the CCP, strengthening Taiwan-U.S. relations, preparing for war in the Taiwan Strait, and quietly completing a series of tactical deployments. Since 2018, when President Trump was in office, the U.S. military has been strengthening the capabilities of its DABS system, which stands for Deployable Air Base System. “DABS stands for Deployable Air Base System. The U.S. has developed similar systems in Poland and Italy in Europe, and is refining them in the Asia-Pacific. Clearly, the United States is preparing for a war with the Chinese Communist Party and needs the support and cooperation of Taiwan’s military bases. What cooperation? Refueling, supply, airports, etc., to strengthen and improve the U.S. “Pacific base network” and to fully deploy against the Chinese Communist Party on the first and second island chains.
U.S. military journalist David Axe, in an article in Forbes, noted that the U.S. Air Force has redeployed to build a network of Pacific bases to weaken the Chinese Communist Party’s strike capabilities. For years, the U.S. Air Force has concentrated fighter jets at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, and bombers at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, two bases that have been targeted by 1,300 Chinese missiles. To counter this threat, the U.S. Air Force will change its deployment, dispersing hundreds of fighters to dozens of smaller bases to reduce the Chinese Communist Party’s missile attack power. Taiwan, should be a key component of this dispersed base.
The U.S. Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft, whose primary role is strategic delivery of cargo and troops, can be air-dropped and can also transport wounded soldiers. And there are many, many options for U.S. Air Force transports that are used to transport personnel and transport heavyweights (VIPs). The Air Force has four C-32s dedicated to transporting the Vice President, the First Lady and members of Congress, a modified version of the Boeing 757-2G4, commonly referred to as the “Air Force Two. There are also 12 Boeing C-40s, which are also used to transport important (VIP) people. They also have executive jets like the Gulfstream and Learjet that can transport these congressmen without the need for a giant C-17 Globemaster to transport three people!
Also, even U.S. government officials and members of Congress are not allowed to fly on military aircraft if they want to. The U.S. government has special rules for officials to fly in airplanes. For members of the U.S. Congress, in order to save taxpayers, most government officials travel, are sitting in economy class on commercial flights. in 1996, the U.S. Congress set a budget for members of Congress to fly, which is $500 million per year. in March 2019, the U.S. Department of Defense specifically introduced a policy that specifically sets out how members of Congress can use military aircraft. in 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense even refused to In 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense even denied a request from Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi because Pelosi needed to fly from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. and wanted to not have to refuel midway. The U.S. National Guard (National Guard) also has clear rules about travel by members of Congress.
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, 53 meters long with a 52-meter wingspan and a maximum payload of 77 tons, has a maximum range of 8,000 kilometers and can reach any part of the world with aerial refueling. The Three Musketeers just flew from South Korea to Taiwan, only two and a half hours of flight, they stopped for three hours and then flew back, there is really no need to take such a large military transport aircraft.
So, what was in the huge cargo hold of such a big jumbo to Taiwan, and from the U.S. Army’s base in South Korea, which can carry 77 tons of cargo? It should be safe to say that it is a large pile of military equipment. What equipment? What does Taiwan need, and what can the United States provide in the current crisis?
The motivation for the U.S. Senate Three Musketeers’ trip to Taiwan can actually be found more in an internal directive from the U.S. Secretary of Defense on June 9. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued an internal directive initiating several key efforts across the Department of Defense to better address the security challenges posed by China (the Chinese Communist Party) as the number one adversary of the United States, inching closer and closer. The Pentagon said the initiatives, many of which are classified, “are designed to focus DoD processes and procedures and better help department leaders contribute to a government-wide effort to address the challenges from China (the Chinese Communist Party).”
The Pentagon did not provide specific details on what those initiatives are. But Austin said, “The directed efforts will enhance the department’s ability to revitalize our network of allies and partners, strengthen deterrence, and accelerate the development of new operational concepts, emerging capabilities, future force postures, and modernized civilian and military personnel.” Just last month, the Biden administration announced a defense budget of more than $5 billion to be spent on the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, an initiative designed to counter the Chinese Communist Party with a focus on Indo-Pacific competition and aimed at strengthening U.S. readiness in the region through investments in radar, satellite and missile systems. Therefore, the purpose of the Three Musketeers’ trip to Taiwan is supposed to be closely related to the U.S. radar, satellite and missile systems deployed in the Pacific.
Latest news indicates that the U.S. military will deploy anti-missile missiles in Taiwan, hugging the long-term deployment of cruisers in the middle of the Taiwan Strait. Therefore, in addition to the radar, satellite and missile systems that the U.S. needs to deploy in the Pacific, the C-17’s treasure may also include missile defense systems, anti-satellite weapons, reconnaissance and intelligence systems, early warning systems, etc. It may also include regional air defense systems such as the Patriot system, and even the Iron Dome system (Iron Dome), which the U.S. helped Israel to develop and can deal with intensive attacks by the Chinese Communist Party. A variety of military equipment.
All in all, the U.S. congressional delegation’s trip to Taiwan was more like a carefully calculated strategy that should have achieved the following strategic and tactical objectives: deterring the CCP regime from making rash moves; enhancing U.S.-Taiwan relations, diplomatic recognition and membership in international organizations and security cooperation, both at the same time; negotiating cooperation and sharing of Taiwan’s military facilities with the U.S. military, and strengthening and improving the U.S. “Pacific Base Network”; investing in Taiwan’s radar, satellite, missile, and anti-missile systems to enrich the “Pacific Deterrence Initiative”; and, preparing for a possible early U.S.-China conflict in the Taiwan Strait in an effort to annihilate major Chinese naval and air forces in one fell swoop.
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