Tarek

I talked to a source in Beijing yesterday about news reports that China was selling Iran various chips and missiles. He would not confirm specifics. But what he said was very interesting. To China, what is happening in the Persian Gulf is a laboratory of their policies of sea denial: 1) He said that China is collecting field data from Iranian conflict zones to identify the radar and thermal signatures of American, and weapons. 2) They are waiting to see how Iran's chokepoint warfare in the Strait of Hormuz works. They plan to use similar swarming tactics near their shores and around Taiwan. 3) China managed the Iranian transition to the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System. This allows China to evaluate the performance and precision of its encrypted military signals in a contested electronic warfare environment. 4) By providing intelligence, radar, and electronic warfare support, China can assess the effectiveness of its technology against Western platforms like the F-35 without direct military engagement. He hinted that this has been more successful than expected. The bottom line (this is my interpretation and not what my source said): is China is loving this war. It is not only weakening the US and depleting their missile and interceptor stocks, but is also giving China examples of what works and allowing it to test its weapon systems while killing American soldiers and destroying American equipment. All without putting a single Chinese soldier at risk.