“I think (the decision) will be unknown, it will be a political mistake, a geopolitical mistake, a strategic mistake, similar to the strategic error made by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in Ukraine,” said General Mark Millie.
Millie considered that Chinese President Xi Jinping is a “rational actor. ” Xi finally won a historic third term at the head of the Communist Party and the country and announced that Taiwan’s unification with China was a top priority.
He added in statements to reporters, “I think he is evaluating matters on the basis of cost, benefits and risks, and I believe that he will conclude that an attack on Taiwan in the near future carries an excessive amount of risk, and will end with a strategic failure of the Chinese army,” he added in statements to reporters.
The US defense official estimated that any Chinese attack would hinder its efforts to become the largest economic and military power in the world.
He pointed to the need to extract the lessons from the war in Ukraine, which started in February and collided with a strong unexpected resistance from Kyiv.
“One of the things that people learn is that the war on paper is very different from the war,” Mark Millie added.
“When bloodshed and people die and real tanks are bombed, things differ slightly. ”
He pointed out that the Chinese army had not been fighting since its fight against the Vietnamese in 1979.
The American general said that while the Chinese People’s Liberation Army can easily launch an attack on Taiwan with bombs and missiles, the actual control of the populated mountainous island will be a “very difficult military mission. ”
“They will play a very dangerous game by crossing the strait and invading the island of Taiwan. They do not have experience and background to do so. They haven’t trained to do so yet,” added the head of the US Army Staff..
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