{"id":47516,"date":"2023-04-23T14:25:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T14:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/04\/23\/lawmakers-war-game-conflict-with-china-hoping-to-deter-one\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:23:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:23:47","slug":"lawmakers-war-game-conflict-with-china-hoping-to-deter-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2023\/04\/23\/lawmakers-war-game-conflict-with-china-hoping-to-deter-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers war-game conflict with China, hoping to deter one"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s April 22, 2027, and 72 hours into a first-strike Chinese attack<\/a> on Taiwan<\/a> and the U.S. military response<\/a>. Already, the toll on all sides is staggering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a war game, but one with a serious purpose and high-profile players: members of the House select committee on China<\/a>. The conflict unfolded on Risk board game-style tabletop maps and markers under a giant gold chandelier in the House Ways and Means Committee room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exercise explored American diplomatic, economic and military options if the United States and China were to reach the brink of war over Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own<\/a>. The exercise played out one night last week and was observed by The Associated Press. It was part of the committee\u2019s in-depth review of U.S. policies toward China as lawmakers, especially in the Republican-led House, focus on tensions with President Xi Jinping\u2019s government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the war game, Beijing\u2019s missiles and rockets cascade down on Taiwan and on U.S. forces as far away as Japan and Guam<\/a>. Initial casualties include hundreds, possibly thousands, of U.S. troops. Taiwan\u2019s and China\u2019s losses are even higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discouragingly for Washington, alarmed and alienated allies in the war game leave Americans to fight almost entirely alone in support of Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And forget about a U.S. hotline call to Xi or one of his top generals to calm things down \u2014 not happening, at least not under this role-playing scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lawmakers
Lawmakers in a new House select committee on China gather for a tabletop war game exercise in the House Ways and Means Committee room on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Washington. Center of New American Security think tank defense program director Stacie Pettyjohn, left, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., third from left, Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., fourth from left, Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., second from right, and Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla. (Ellen Knickmeyer\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The war game wasn\u2019t about planning a war, lawmakers said. It was about figuring out how to strengthen U.S. deterrence, to keep a war involving the U.S., China and Taiwan from ever starting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideally, the members of Congress would walk out of the war game with two convictions, the committee chairman, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., told colleagues at the outset: \u201cOne is a sense of urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second: \u201cA sense … that there are meaningful things we can do in this Congress through legislative action to improve the prospect of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,\u201d Gallagher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the committee\u2019s top Democrat, told lawmakers, \u201cwe cannot have a situation where we are faced with what we are going to be facing tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201conly way to do that is to deter aggression and to prevent a conflict from arising,\u201d said Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. doesn\u2019t formally recognize the Taiwan government but is Taipei\u2019s most vital provider of weapons and other security assistance. Xi has directed his military to be ready to reclaim Taiwan in 2027, by force if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about lawmakers\u2019 war game, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, said China wants peaceful reunification with Taiwan but reserves \u201cthe option of taking all necessary measures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe U.S. side\u2019s so-called \u2018war game\u2019 is meant to support and embolden \u2018Taiwan independence\u2019 separatists and further fuel tensions in the Taiwan Strait, which we firmly oppose,\u201d Liu said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the war game, lawmakers played the blue team, in the role of National Security Council advisers. Their directive from their (imaginary) president: Deter a Chinese takeover of Taiwan if possible, defeat it if not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts for the Center for a New American Security think tank, whose research includes war-gaming possible conflicts using realistic scenarios and unclassified information, played the red team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the exercise, it all kicks off with opposition lawmakers in Taiwan talking about independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the think tank\u2019s defense program director Stacie Pettyjohn narrating, angry Chinese officials respond by heaping unacceptable demands on Taiwan. Meanwhile, China\u2019s military moves invasion-capable forces into position. Steps such as bringing in blood supplies for treating troops suggest this is no ordinary military exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, China imposes a de facto blockade on Taiwan, intolerable for an island that produces more than 60 percent of the world\u2019s semiconductors, as well as other high-tech gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the U.S. military readies for a possible fight, U.S. presidential advisers \u2014 House committee members who are surrounding and studying the wooden tables with the map and troop markers spread out \u2014 assemble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They lob questions at a retired general, Mike Holmes, playing the role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, before deciding courses of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the economic consequences if the U.S. goes maximalist on financial punishments, one lawmaker asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCatastrophic\u201d is the response, for both the United States and China. China will hit back at the U.S. economy as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho\u2019s going to tell the president that he has to say to the American people, \u2018Say goodbye to your iPhones?\u201d\u2019 Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do American leaders have any way to communicate with their Chinese counterparts, lawmakers ask. No, China\u2019s leaders have a history of shunning U.S. hotline calls, and that\u2019s a problem, the exercise leaders tell them.<\/p>\n\n\n\t