[This is an op-ed by Tin Pak, visiting academic at the National Defense University and a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taiwan, and Chen Yu-cheng, an associate professor at the National Defense University.

The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics.

An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency. HEMP weapons fit both criteria. In nanoseconds, a single HEMP detonation at an altitude between 20km and 50km can disable electronic infrastructure across large swathes of Taiwan. There would be little warning, as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fields DF-17 hypersonic missiles, capable of delivering a HEMP warhead above Taiwan in a matter of minutes.

HEMPs strike at the foundation of modern society, its electronic systems. Every critical infrastructure uses electronics, from telecommunications, hospitals, energy production and distribution facilities, and even water purification systems.

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