US Army Pacific Chief Says US Making Invasion of Taiwan More Challenging for China

The U.S. military is making a potential Chinese Communist Party (CCP) invasion against Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait more difficult, according to Gen. Ronald P. Clark, commander of U.S. Army Pacific.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on June 27, Clark said China’s military is advancing its capabilities, procedures, and technologies at a pace never seen before. He noted that China is also “learning from ongoing conflicts” to improve its ability to operate in a joint military capacity.

“We spend a lot of our time thinking about how to counter a cross-strait invasion,” Clark said.

The Taiwan Strait, a narrow waterway separating mainland China and Taiwan, is only about 80 miles wide at its narrowest point.

Clark said that the strait is now being “watched by an unblinking eye” with multiple countries that are “working together” to deter the CCP from carrying out the invasion.

Clark said the U.S. military is taking measures to ensure that China will face more challenges if it attempts to invade Taiwan.

“The chance of being able to conduct an uncontested or successful wet gap crossing of that scale is very, very small,” Clark said. “So our efforts to continue to make that problem set more difficult for the Chinese is where we spend a lot of our time.”

The Taiwan Strait is a focal point of geopolitical tensions as the CCP continues to label Taiwan a rogue province that should come under CCP control and its socialist model of governance.

Taiwan has been a self-ruled island since the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) retreated there after the Chinese Civil War with the CCP in 1949. Taiwan has continuously claimed legitimacy as the government of all China, with no official peace treaty ever having been signed between the two warring factions.

Taiwan has held presidential elections every four years since 1996, representing an alternative model of governance for China, and it continues building a military to defend itself against a potential CCP assault.

The United States has been Taiwan’s biggest arms supplier, approving sales such as drones, tanks, and anti-ship and air-to-air missiles.

The United States has maintained a longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity”—meaning not clearly stating whether the U.S. military would come to defend Taiwan in the event of a CCP attack.

Clark assumed command of U.S. Army Pacific in November 2024, replacing Gen. Charles A. Flynn.

In May, Flynn told lawmakers at a House Select Committee on the CCP hearing that “the threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is no longer distant or theoretical.”

Flynn said that such an invasion would be more than a “naval or air power problem.” He noted that the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army Ground Force, also known as the PLA Army, would be the “decisive force” in the attack.

“If the PLA Army cannot land, cannot maneuver, cannot hold ground, and cannot subjugate the people of Taiwan, it cannot win. If we can prevent them from even attempting to cross, we deter the war all together,” Flynn said at the time.

Clark said the Army is working with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to preposition supplies by setting up joint theater distribution centers in the region, aiming to sustain the joint force during a potential protracted conflict.

“Our ability to be able to gain positional advantage is all tied to our efforts to campaign inside the first and second island chains, to build positional advantage through our engagements, through our operations, through our activities and investments in the region,” he said.

Taiwan sits at the heart of the first island chain that stretches from the southern Japanese island of Kyushu and the Philippines to the Malay Peninsula. The second island chain extends from Japan through Guam to Micronesia.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned in May that CCP leader Xi Jinping “has ordered his military to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027” during a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

“Any attempt by communist China to conquer Taiwan by force would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world,” Hegseth said at the time.