By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-28 23:36:53 | Updated at 2026-09-29 00:32:32
1 hour ago
The top U.S. military commander in the Pacific says the goal of American military preparations in the region is not to fight a war with China but to convince Beijing that military aggression would fail.
Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, discussed that approach in an interview with TIME published on Sept. 24, the day President Donald Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House.
“Mission success for me is not to fight and win a war; it’s to provide a deterrent capability so that we never go to war in the first place,” Paparo said.
Paparo made a similar point earlier this month at the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defense Conference in Canada.
“Would-be aggressors must see that the cost of aggression outweighs any perceived benefits,” he said on Sept. 1.
Paparo called deterrence the military’s “highest duty,” describing it as a combination of capability and will that must be visible to potential adversaries.
When countries operate together, he said, deterrence “doesn’t grow by addition; it compounds.”
On the sidelines of the conference, which brought together senior military leaders from 29 countries, Paparo held his first in-person meeting with Gen. Yang Zhibin, commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, whose area of responsibility includes the Taiwan Strait.
PACOM said it discussed maintaining military communication to reduce the risk of miscalculation.
Recurring Chinese Operations Around Taiwan
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported Chinese “joint combat readiness patrols” around the island on Sept. 5, Sept. 9 and Sept. 17.
The ministry had reported similar operations on Aug. 4, Aug. 15 and Aug. 18, with PLA aircraft operating alongside Chinese naval vessels.
During the Sept. 17 patrol, Taiwan detected 19 PLA combat and support aircraft and drones, 15 of which crossed the Taiwan Strait median line or its extension.
The aircraft operated with PLA Navy vessels around the island.
Paparo has characterized the PLA’s recurring operations around Taiwan in more consequential terms.
In his April testimony, he described them as “not just exercises but as rehearsals” for a potential use of force against the island.
The strategy Paparo is describing is known as “deterrence by denial”—convincing an adversary that it will be unable to accomplish its military objectives rather than relying primarily on the threat of punishment after an attack.
The Pentagon’s 2026 National Defense Strategy calls for a “strong denial defense” along the First Island Chain and for allies and partners to contribute more to regional defense.
In April, Paparo described the objective to Congress more directly: U.S. forces must “deny China the ability to achieve its objectives through military aggression.”
Taiwan Expands Unmanned Capabilities
Unmanned systems are one part of that approach.
Paparo has described a “hellscape” concept involving large numbers of relatively inexpensive unmanned and precision systems intended to complicate an attacking force’s operations.
Taiwan is expanding its own unmanned capabilities. On Sept. 11, President Lai Ching-te promulgated legislation providing NT$240 billion (about $7.6 billion) over six years for unmanned systems and industry development.
The new law calls for NT$40 billion (about $1.26 billion) in annual funding in principle and directs the defense ministry to prioritize Taiwan-made, relatively low-cost, high-performance unmanned systems.
The legislation identifies military applications for unmanned systems, including surveillance, target acquisition, strikes, logistics, electronic warfare, and mine operations.
