China holds the GPS advantage over the U.S. Here’s why, and how to solve it

The recent U.S. approval of an unprecedented $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan, including HIMARS, rockets, drones and artillery systems, has sharply elevated tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Beijing has warned that the move risks driving the region toward “military confrontation and war,” while Washington views it as a necessary step to accelerate Taiwan’s defensive readiness. But amid the political signaling and hardware debates, a deeper and more dangerous vulnerability is receiving far too little attention.

The U.S. remains overwhelmingly dependent on GPS for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). In a Taiwan contingency, that dependence could undermine US deterrence, complicate intervention decisions, and degrade operational effectiveness at precisely the moment clarity and speed matter most. 

If Beijing chose to escalate toward armed conflict or sustained gray zone coercion, one of its most powerful asymmetric tools would not be naval or aerial alone. It would be the electromagnetic domain.

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