US and allies prepare for Chicom threat to Taiwan

 Wall Street Journal:

On Basco Island South of Taiwan, U.S. Military Prepares for Conflict With China

Part of largest-ever annual drills with the Philippines focuses on defending strategic Bashi Channel

On a rocky, windswept island just over 100 miles south of Taiwan, U.S. troops from the Marines and Army ran out of MV-22 Osprey aircraft with weapons, including Javelin and Stinger missile launchers, before setting up camp next to a field of watermelons.

On the opposite side of the island, a Himars rocket launcher was brought ashore on Monday from an amphibious landing craft, a system that could give U.S. forces the ability to target ships up to a few hundred miles away.
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The ISW has much more on the threat to Taiwan. 

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The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Joint Sword exercise around Taiwan from April 8 to 10 likely provides a rough sketch for future isolation campaigns around Taiwan that the CCP may use to try and create a sense of inevitability regarding “unification” among the Taiwanese populace. The Shandong aircraft carrier operated east of Taiwan during the exercise, which indicates China aims to create a sense of inevitability that the PLA can isolate the island at will and prevent foreign intervention. The April exercises included tactical-level firsts, such as PLA J-15s launched from the Shandong entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from the east of the island. These firsts do not reflect new PLA operational-level capabilities, however. China demonstrated it could fly tens of aircraft around Taiwan on a daily basis in August 2022.[10] The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning also previously sailed well east of Taiwan in December 2022 and could operate where the Shandong did in April if ordered.[11] The Chinese Fujian Maritime Safety Administration’s April 5 announcement that it would embark on a three day “special joint patrol and inspection operation” in the central and southern Taiwan Strait indicates the CCP may interfere in future Taiwan Strait shipping in conjunction with military activity to isolate the island.[12] The exercises were China’s response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen meeting with US officials in the United States and in Taiwan between April 5 and April 8. Taiwanese political figures routinely visit the United States and meet with American political figures without the trappings of a state visit.[13] The April exercises also helped increase sales in Taiwan of a clothing patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh, a symbol for Xi Jinping that Chinese social media censors.[14] This example demonstrates the potential difficulty PLA exercises around Taiwan will have inducing fear among the Taiwanese populace.

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There are significant political differences in Taiwan in response to the Chicom threat.  There is a contingent that appears to think it can cut a deal with China.  The other party seems more realistic. 

The show of force on Basco Island looks like the US and Allied response to the Demonstration China put on to intimidate Taiwan.