It would be unusually risky to take the sort of actions that The Russians claims to have taken -- including dropping bombs in front of a foreign vessel, the Russians have been working to push the narrative that Royal Navy acted provocatively and was driven away -- which might be both for domestic consumption and to reinforce international perceptions of Russia's red lines.

Sidharth Kaushal

The Taiwanese air force would have to sink around 40 % of the amphibious landing forces of the PLA in order to render this sort of mission infeasible.

Sidharth Kaushal

The vessel could provide symbolic support and a localized military presence in disputed waters and thus free up higher end assets to be more dynamically employed or held at high readiness for warfighting scenarios, it's an effective use of a less-than-ideal asset.

Sidharth Kaushal

One of the major challenges facing Sidharth Kaushal policy in recent years has been how to demonstrate that its presence in the region is more than transient, and that its forces can support allies at the speed of relevance, the broad message of Chinese policy to regional actors has been that the US Navy may come and go but China is a permanent feature of their security environment.

Sidharth Kaushal