Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to have the capability to successfully invade Taiwan by 2027, National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday, casting doubt on the progress of Beijing’s military modernization plans.
Taiwan would continue to delay the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) invasion timetable by strengthening its defense capabilities, Koo said.
“I don’t think it will happen in the near future or at least within one to two years,” Koo said of a Chinese invasion.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“If China needs to carry out amphibious landing operations to take Taiwan, I don’t think it will have such capabilities by 2027,” he said.
Koo declined to pinpoint when an attack could happen, saying only that Taiwan does not see Beijing making invasion preparations.
Beijing is already facing uncertainty next year from its own economic downturn, while the world must also deal with the US election, and wars in Europe and the Middle East, he said.
Xi is seeking to build a “world-class force” by 2027, a deadline that coincides with the 100th anniversary of the PLA.
Then-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley last year said that Beijing’s military would not be ready to invade Taiwan for “some time.”
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Brown Jr last week said he doubts Beijing plans to take Taiwan militarily.
Koo said Taiwan would use mobile weapons such as anti-ship missiles, HIMARS, drones and Javelin anti-tank systems to make China’s landing operations more difficult in the event of an invasion.
The US plans to accelerate a HIMARS shipment by one year to 2026.
Earlier this month, Koo said the US government is taking steps to speed up the delivery of US weapons systems to Taiwan that have been delayed by factors including shipments to Ukraine.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to