Webinar | Countdown to the CCP’s Shooting War: The Latest Indicators

Webinar to Provide Update on Xi’s Options — and Preparations to Exercise Them

In recent weeks, the emperor of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, has been making the rounds of key People’s Liberation Army units, exhorting his seal-clapping military audiences to redouble their preparations for combat. Combined with a number of other manifestations of preparations for kinetic conflict, his determination at least to have the option to complement the “Unrestricted Warfare” the CCP has waged against the United States for decades with a shooting war is now unmistakable.

Against the background of Vladimir Putin’s telegraphed punch delivered to Ukraine last year — the run-up to an invasion personally approved by his Chinese liege lord — we ignore at our extreme peril evidence of an even more strategically fraught mobilization by Xi. The job of parsing and responding to such preparations is made more difficult, but no less imperative, by their being steadily and incrementally ratcheted up to support action against Taiwan and possibly U.S. allies, personnel, assets and territory.

This CPDC webinar provides an update on the state of the CCP’s readiness to act belligerently in the Western Pacific, and perhaps far beyond. In particular, it examines the available indicators and warnings of both Xi’s intentions and growing capabilities to wage the “People’s War” publicly declared in May of 2019 against us, as well as our friends and vital interests.

Moderator

- Frank Gaffney, Founder and Executive Chairman, Center for Security Policy; Vice Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China.

Panelists

- Dr. Bradley Thayer, PhD, Director for China Policy, Center for Security Policy, author, Understanding the China Threat,
• Topic: “Xi Jinping’s Ominous Ambitions and His Determination and Growing Ability to Realize Them”

- Captain James Fanell, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Former Director of Intelligence and Information Operations, U.S. Pacific Fleet
• Topic: “The CCP’s Kinetic Warfare Options and Preparations in the Western Pacific: Welcome to the Decade of Concern”

- Lt Colonel Guermantes “G-Man” Lailari, U.S. Air Force (ret), former Air Force Attaché; former Foreign Area Officer specializing in the Middle East and Europe as well as counterterrorism, irregular warfare, and missile defense. He was a Taiwan Fellow in 2022 sponsored by the Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he is continuing his research in 2023 as a Visiting Scholar at National Chengchi University (NCCU) in Taipei. He is also on the Board of Advisors for the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs (CENSA) and on the Board of Fellows for the Jewish Policy Center.
• Topic: “Possible PLA operation in mid-August 2023: Is Pratas Island the target?”

- Matt Williams, Director of Intelligence, Knightsbridge Research Ltd.
• Topic: “Hiding in Plain Sight: An Open-source Intelligence Assessment of the State of China’s Mobilization”

- Colonel Grant Newsham, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), Former Marine Attaché in Japan; former Foreign Service Officer; former East Asia-based corporate executive; author, “When China Attacks: A Warning to America;” Senior Fellow, Center for Security Policy
• Topic: “Wider War? The CCP’s Growing Ability to Project Power Well Beyond the First Island Chain”
Michael Yon, Former Green Beret, combat correspondent, author, photographer
• Topic: “Indicators and Warnings of a Chinese Shooting War on the Homefront”