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.
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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.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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