But if these weapons are not operated intelligently, they might be just as if not more visible and vulnerable than so-called conventional weapons such as tanks and fighter jets, said Lyle Goldstein, an expert on the PLA and a professor at Brown University.
“A lot of people are premising Taiwan’s defense strategy on these supposedly asymmetric weapons, but they ignored Taiwan’s huge vulnerability in the age of long-range precision fires,” Goldstein said. He pointed out that besides missiles, China also fields a massive fleet of loitering munitions such as suicide drones, which could be used to swarm Taiwan in a war.
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Featuring Lyle Goldstein
October 22, 2025
