In the current Russian-Ukrainian War, the speed of advancement and the form of warfare of the Russian army will become a case of deduction by military departments and military academies of various countries. The inspiration for the generals of various countries is comparable to the Gulf War in 1990, it is even more inspirational for PLA’s future possible operations against Taiwan, military analyst Wang Ya recently wrote in an article.
Russian military forces completely paralyzed Ukraine’s overall command capability within an hour and destroyed its airpower almost completely on the ground. Within the next 12 hours, ground and airborne forces completed the occupation of key target areas, and odds are that the war objectives will be achieved within 48 hours. Russia has destroyed a medium-sized country with a standing army of 150,000 and a complete military-industrial system in less than a day.
Speaking of China, at a press conference at the Chinese Foreign Ministry on the 24th, Hua Chunying said that China is still the only permanent member of the Security Council that has not yet achieved the complete reunification of the motherland. And the situation in Ukraine and how to fight the war between Russia and Ukraine have a direct impact on China’s unification of Taiwan and “how to fight the armed reunification”.
First, a quick solution to the battle. Just as Russia’s war against Ukraine is likely to be resolved within 48 hours, if the “war of reunification of Taiwan” starts, the “highest goal” of the PLA is to “reunify Taiwan”. The PLA will never delay and will not give the U.S., Japan and Europe the time and opportunity to intervene militarily and politically. The PLA will also defeat the island’s naval and air forces in the shortest possible time, seize air and sea control, provide security for subsequent landing operations, “eliminate” Taiwan’s combat power within 48 hours, and take full control of Taiwan within 72 hours.
Second, modern system warfare will come into play, and all aspects of sea, land, air, sky, network and psychological warfare will be launched. PLA will surround Taiwan in all directions and cut off Taiwan’s military control centers, airports, and ports in the first place. Priority will be given to covering targets through air firepower. This will all be very similar to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Third, civilian casualties will be minimized and only Taiwan’s military personnel and facilities will be targeted.
Fourth, “saturation attacks” on Taiwan’s “hubs” will be carried out in one fell swoop. In modern formalized warfare, there are very few cases of “fighting a big battle with a small one”, whether in Ukraine or Taiwan, urban warfare and alley warfare are extremely unlikely.
Of course, Taiwan and Ukraine are very different. Compared to the Russian army’s massive armored troop advance on the Ukrainian plain, the Chinese PLA will face “beaching”. This is the weak point of PLA military practice and the most difficult form of warfare, but it is the direction in which the PLA has been vigorously developing in recent years.
More importantly, compared to Russia, China’s will to reunify Taiwan is only stronger, not weaker. If Taiwan still hopes for protection from the West and continues to go farther down the road of “Taiwan independence”, provoking the will of a great power, it is not good news for the people of Taiwan.
It is important to know that the reason why a great power is a great power and the reason why the P5 is a P5 is not because of the “veto” in the United Nations, but a comprehensive demonstration of national power.