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A Navy SEAL unit that killed Osama bin Laden is busy preparing for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the preparations.
SEAL Team 6, an elite military special missions unit, has spent more than a year planning and training for a potential Chinese invasion of the island at its Dam Neck base in Virginia Beach, per the FT.
The unit's contingency plans — in keeping with most of its missions — are highly classified. People familiar with its planning did not provide details to the FT about what specific missions it is preparing for.
While SEAL Team 6's official purpose is to test, evaluate, and develop technology and tactics for all naval special warfare forces, it is "unofficially" involved in sensitive missions around the world.
These include battles in Afghanistan in 2002, a presence in Yemen, Syria, and Somalia in the early 2000s, and the nighttime raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan in 2011.
The Special Operations Command, which oversees a command in charge of SEAL Team 6, told the FT to refer inquiries about the unit's Taiwan preparations to the Pentagon, which declined to comment on particular details.
A spokesperson said the Department of Defense and its forces "prepare and train for a wide range of contingencies."
According to the FT, preparations have intensified since Phil Davidson, the US Indo-Pacific commander, warned in 2021 that China may invade Taiwan by 2027.
Military experts and former defense officials say signs point to potential Chinese military action to seize the island by force, possibly in just a few years. These include the rapid modernization of its armed forces over the past two decades, and drills around Taiwan.
But experts from the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War warned in May that an aggressive Chinese coercion campaign — short of war but still threatening — is more likely than a full-scale invasion, and that the US needs to prepare for such an eventuality.
US Indo-Pacific Commander Adm. Samuel Paparo told Japan's Nikkei newspaper in May that China's two-day drills around the island "looked like a rehearsal" for an invasion.
However, it's unclear whether the US or its allies would get involved militarily if China invaded.
For decades, the US has adopted "strategic ambiguity" toward Taiwan, positioning itself as the country's most steadfast ally, while declining to explicitly say whether it would come to Taiwan's aid if China attacked.
According to a June report from the American think tank RAND Corp, the US — if it decided to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion — may have to do it alone as several of its biggest allies are unlikely to commit troops.
The EU, which recognizes the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, said in July it would work with regional partners to "deter" China from invading Taiwan.
