From S.R.
What is China's stake in the Iran-Israel conflict? The answer is that Beijing has a huge interest as it plans to conquer Taiwan over the next few years.
We will take a break and not publish April 27 to celebrate Passover. Have a wonderful holiday.
He said. She said.
"This is of profound and far-reaching significance to the modernization of national defense and the armed forces and to the military's fulfillment of its missions and tasks in the new era."
In wake of Iran's missile attack on Israel Chinese President Xi unveils the military's "Information Support Force."
Focus
Lessons of War
A flag of war? President Xi commemorates China’s new strategic branch in wake of Iran’s missile strike on Israel. [Xinhua]
Only five days after Iran's unprecedented missile strike on Israel, China emerged with a surprise -- the formation of a strategic military branch meant to coordinate a massive attack on any enemy.
"This is of profound and far-reaching significance to the modernization of national defense and the armed forces and to the military's fulfillment of its missions and tasks in the new era," Chinese President Xi Jinping said.
The announcement of the Information Support Force was no coincidence. Beijing was highly impressed with the success of Iran's coordinated missile and unmanned aerial vehicle strike on Israel on April 14. At least 300 missiles and UAVs were fired toward the Jewish state from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. The Iranian operation demonstrated its new command and control system, which could coordinate a war against an enemy from at least 2,500 kilometers away.
For years, China has been helping Iran in developing C4I, or command, control, communications, computers and intelligence -- the ability to link assets for a massive and yet precise attack. As Iran demonstrated, C4I allows a military to use assets to overcome an adversary through waves from several directions.
In the race for domination of Asia, Xi has invested heavily in modernizing the Chinese military. For Beijing, bean-counting is not enough; military assets must be interoperable and linked to a network that could control the battle tempo.
"The Information Support Force is a brand-new strategic branch of the PLA and a key pillar of the integrated development and use of the network information system," Xi said on April 19. "It plays an important role and bears great responsibility in promoting the PLA's high-quality development and the ability to fight and win in modern warfare."
For China, Iran has been a testing ground for C4I and other vital military capabilities. Beijing, and to a lesser extent Russia, has been helping Teheran develop a coordinated and comprehensive battle sphere that links naval, air, ground and even space assets. The April 14 attack on Israel demonstrated that Iran has been a good student.
The Iranian attack also reflects the Chinese playbook. For years, China has held exercises that combined a mock naval and air strike of Taiwan. Like Iran, the Chinese operations were meant to intimidate while also registering Taiwan's defense strategy and assets.
You can bet that Chinese military officers were either present or briefed just after the Iranian attack. For Beijing, the information gathered was priceless: China learned of the operations and methods of U.S. missile defense assets. The Chinese pored over information on the effectiveness of small UAVs against the American-Israeli defense network.
Some of the U.S. air defense assets, such as the Patriot and Sky Bow-3, have been deployed in Taiwan. On April 15, just before the Chinese military announcement, Taiwan tested the Land Sword-2 air defense system, meant to down Chinese cruise missiles and UAVs. Although deemed indigenous, Land Sword was modeled after Israeli missile defense assets.
The second lesson drawn by China might be just as important. The international community's response to the Iranian attack on Israel was negligible. The United Nations Security Council did almost nothing and certainly did not plan a coalition to counter Iran, now the most powerful country in the Middle East. Indeed, Washington invested the greatest efforts in restraining Israel from a counter-strike.
For Xi, this was music to his ears. To Xi, the muted reaction by the international community and the open calls for restraint by the White House could only mean that the United States would not go to war if China invades Taiwan. Any anti-Chinese resolution will be vetoed in the Security Council and Beijing's Middle East allies will not support any U.S. war.
Iran, in particular, would be expected to use its proxies to stop the U.S. naval armada from leaving the Gulf. Over the last few months, the Iranian-sponsored Houthis have dominated the Gulf of Aden, the channel that would be used by U.S. warships from leaving the Middle East for Taiwan and the South China Sea.
After the Iranian strike on Israel, China actually encouraged Teheran to defy any threat of Israeli retaliation. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in the name of promoting regional stability, ignored Israel, rather relayed Beijing's confidence in Iran’s military might.
"China believes that Iran can handle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil, while safeguarding its own sovereignty and dignity," Wang told Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on April 15.
Ticker Tape
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