Marine Corps Leaders Highlight Logistical and Political Hurdles in Potential Pacific Conflict with China

U.S. Marines deployed across the western Pacific would face severe difficulties sustaining forces, relocating missile batteries, and securing authorization to launch operations from allied territory in a conflict with China, according to assessments by Marine Corps officers and independent analysts.

Writing separately in the November issue of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings journal, retired Lieutenant General Stephen Sklenka and serving Lieutenant Colonel Merritt Mitchell identified critical vulnerabilities in the logistical and political frameworks supporting dispersed marine operations along the first island chain—the archipelago stretching from Japan through Taiwan and the Philippines toward Borneo. Sklenka warned that Chinese strikes on American bases and supply routes could isolate forward-deployed marines, while Mitchell questioned whether dispersed units could relocate rapidly enough to evade Chinese attacks or obtain permission to operate from partner nations.

The latter political obstacle was underscored on November 6, when Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. reaffirmed that, under the Philippine constitution, United States forces are prohibited from launching offensive operations from Philippine territory in the event of hostilities between Beijing and Taipei. The restriction also applies to facilities covered by the allies’ Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement.

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