(source : ANI) ( Photo Credit : ani)
In recent months, the world has watched the Ukraine war unfold far more closely than ever before. What started as a quick Russian push became a brutal, long‑term struggle that has taught both allies and foes valuable lessons about modern warfare.
China’s armed forces—its People’s Liberation Army (PLA)—are paying particular attention. The country’s leadership knows that Russia’s failure to steamroll Ukraine could hurt its own ambitions in the region, especially when it comes to a potential conflict with Taiwan. The PLA is gathering data on what works and what doesn’t in the current battle, hoping to speed up its learning curve.
Former Australian Army major general Mick Ryan said China is a quick learner of modern fighting. “Our forces have been watching the Gulf War, the Falklands and now Ukraine,” he noted. “We are not going to sit on the sidelines if the Russians do more than we did in 2022.”
The Ukraine fight is often called the first “drone war.” Unmanned aircraft, ground rovers and even water‑based drones are showing how future battles may look. These tech tools give armies a huge advantage in gathering information and striking from a safe distance.
Ryan pointed out that the PLA is working hard to combine air, land, sea, rockets, space and cyber capabilities into one unified plan. The new joint theater commands and better coordination between the rocket force and cyber units show that China is building a more integrated force. Many of these changes started before 2022, but the Ukraine war has reinforced that they’re on the right track.
A U.S. Air Force study by the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) distilled ten lessons from the Ukraine conflict. Its author, Kevin Pollpeter, highlighted that a smaller, better‑motivated arm—Ukraine’s troops—can resist a larger power, but Taiwan’s resolve remains unclear. He argued that population size isn’t decisive; China’s huge citizen pool and disciplined military structure could offset high casualty rates.
The study also warns that wars take longer than expected. Winners are those who can mobilise people, replace lost equipment, have deep territory to absorb losses and keep their technology from falling behind. China already has potent missile arsenals, a tight industrial base and a dense air‑defence network.
Russia has shown how logistics can turn the tide. The Ukrainians rely on fuel and supplies that stretched across land, whereas a Taiwan invasion would need a maritime and aerial supply chain that China might block. That would give the U.S. military extra pressure to help.
Cyber‑warfare was another key point. Russia used cyber tools before and during the conflict to good effect. U.S. officials say China remains the largest persistent cyber threat to U.S. and global systems. This underscores the importance of cyber defenses in any future U.S.-China clash over Taiwan.
The CASI report also examined drones and space. Ukraine’s 42,000 Starlink terminals kept communications alive, and a U.S.-China war would likely target satellite networks to deny Taiwan and U.S. forces their situational awareness.
Geography also matters. The Pacific is vast, with open ocean, nightmarish typhoons and a handful of islands. A campaign against Taiwan would be more complex than the land‑locked Russian‑Ukrainian fight. Terrain and weather, political alliances, and the scale of the adversary’s industrial base all shape the picture.
Ryan highlighted that China’s command structure is highly centralized, which could be a weakness for rapid decision‑making. He noted that Chinese leaders are working to improve flexibility. In contrast, the U.S. and its allies benefit from multiple power centers and a culture of independent thought.
All the while, China is working hand‑in‑hand with Russia, North Korea and Iran, forming a new bloc that may be even more aggressive. This alliance complicates security and diplomatic efforts across the Pacific.
In short, the Ukraine war has acted as a real‑time laboratory for China. It has sharpened its focus on integration, unmanned systems, cyber‑defense, and logistic resilience—skills that could be tested in a future Taiwan operation. Regional powers like Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and the United States will need to study the same lessons if they want to deter a Chinese push. The world watches as this new generation of military thinking emerges from the battlefield of Ukraine.
Source: aninews
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