We are hugely behind the curve,” says Becca Wasser, who played the role of the Chinese leadership in the Select Committee’s wargame and is head of the gaming lab at the Center for a New American Security. “The most common thread in these exercises is that the United States needs to take steps now in the Indo-Pacific to ensure the conflict doesn’t happen in the future. does better, sometimes it does worse - but there’s no question that such a conflict would plunge the nation into a horrifically bloody conflict.

The ultimate outcome isn’t clear - sometimes the U.S. and China have played out dozens of times, most recently in April by the House Select Committee on competition with China. The Chinese assault shreds Taiwan’s economy, and the U.S., with a shriveled industrial base that pales against China’s ascendant manufacturing power, takes years to rebuild.Īnd that’s assuming the two superpowers don’t go nuclear. and Japan bleed dozens of ships, hundreds of aircraft and thousands of servicemembers. air bases and ships in the Indo-Pacific, and though Washington tries to punch back with sophisticated submarines and stealth bombers, it finds its munitions in the region utterly depleted in just a few days. Taking seriously President Joe Biden’s pledge to protect the island, Beijing preemptively strikes U.S. The People’s Liberation army and navy launch an overwhelming amphibious assault on the Taiwan Strait. Illustration by Brian Stauffer for POLITICOĬhinese planes and rockets blow Taiwan’s navy and air force to smithereens in the wee hours of the morning.

War of beach critic