The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) plans to be fully equipped to carry out a full-scale resumption of hostilities against Taiwan by 2020, a Ministry of Defense report released yesterday showed.
Possible PLA strategies against Taiwan include combined arms tactics, naval blockades, artillery shelling and amphibious assaults, the 2018 Report on the People’s Liberation Army said.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has not renounced its intention to conquer Taiwan through military means, and its adherence to the “one China” principle, denial of the “one China, one Taiwan” system and refusal to acknowledge the de facto sovereignty of the Taiwanese government presents an ever-growing threat to the Taiwanese military, the report said.
Photo: Reuters
The PLA drafts its plans for minimal losses and maximum efficiency, and would aim to conduct a lightning-fast invasion aimed at a swift conclusion of military operations, it said.
China sees unification with Taiwan as the unwavering “duty” of the CCP, it added.
A declaration of independence, domestic instability, receiving or developing nuclear weapons, a delay in political talks geared toward unification, foreign intervention in Taiwan’s internal affairs or the deployment of foreign forces to Taiwan are possible flashpoints that could lead to a Chinese invasion of the nation, the ministry said.
PLA exercises over the past few years have been aimed at preparing for war against Taiwan, but the Taiwan Strait remains a hard-to-overcome natural defense due to the PLA Navy’s lack of transport vessels and inadequate logistics capability, the report said.
The PLA is expected to look into acquiring the capability to launch joint landing operations, the report said, adding that the ever-growing threat the PLA poses to Taiwan bears close monitoring.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole