The Army Special Operations Command at Fort Liberty, North Carolina — possibly soon to be renamed back to Fort Bragg, its previous name — is retooling its 35,000 commandos for operations against China.
Last spring, some of the command’s 35,000 special operations forces took part in an unprecedented military deployment to Taiwan’s Kinmen island, about 3 miles from the Chinese mainland, the online military blog SOFREP reported. The commandos were training with Taiwanese military forces under provisions of the 2023 defense authorization law that calls for U.S. military advisers to work with their counterparts on the self-ruled island.
According to SOFREP, the exercises involved U.S. training for the Taiwanese military use of the Black Hornet Nano, a small military unmanned aerial vehicle. The cooperation suggests the outlying Taiwan islands could be used as part of what the commander of the Indo-Pacific Command calls the “Hellscape” strategy.
The strategy involves the use of thousands of armed drones — both aerial and sea-based — that would be used against invading Chinese forces to prevent any rapid takeover of Taiwan and buy time until U.S. and allied forces could arrive in force.
Taiwan’s defense minister at the time, Chiu Kuo-cheng, confirmed in March the U.S. commando deployment near the mainland but declined to elaborate.
“This exchange is for mutual observation, to identify the problems we have, figure out how to improve and to recognize their strengths so we can learn from them,” Mr. Chiu said in March when asked about reports of the commando training.
In addition to Hellscape operations, the commandos are practicing for political warfare and psychological warfare against China.
Kinmen was recently was targeted by military exercises that involved the use of Chinese coast guard ships near the island in an attempt to establish a legal precedent over the outlying islands.
China expert Miles Yu said in a column for the Hoover Institution that the Army commando deployment to Kinmen was a monumental shift in U.S. military and foreign policy that challenged doctrines in place since the 1950s.
“This move not only signifies an important geopolitical pivot, but also breaks a long-standing taboo that has implications for regional stability and U.S.-China relations,” Mr. Yu said.
Until the commandos trained on the island, Kinmen and other outlying Taiwanese islands were viewed as indefensible and geopolitically sensitive to U.S.-China ties.
“This deployment might well be remembered as a pivotal moment when the U.S. took a definitive stand on its commitments in the Taiwan Strait, reshaping regional dynamics for years to come,” Mr. Yu said.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.