China Is Making It Harder to Tell Exercise From Invasion: US Space Forces Commander

The increasing complexity of China’s military operations makes distinguishing an exercise from an invasion difficult, a space force commander says.

A Chinese jet fighter flies above a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera and buildings on Pingtan Island, the closest point in China to the main island of Taiwan, in China's southeast Fujian Province, on Jan. 13, 2024. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese regime is intentionally making it difficult to tell the difference between a military exercise and what could one day be an invasion, according to the U.S. Indo–Pacific Space Forces commander, Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir.

Speaking at the Air and Space Forces Association (AFA) Warfare Symposium panel in Colorado on March 4, Mastalir called this tactic a “complexity,” stating that it was “clearly by design.”