An invasion of Taiwan would be a “daunting undertaking” for China, a new US Congressional report released on Thursday said.
Prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the 34-page report titled “The Chinese Military: Overview and Issues for Congress” was realeased as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) arrived in Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama.
“Over the past two decades, the main focus of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military planning and short-term operational readiness has been a potential conflict over Taiwan,” the report said.
It said that China has vowed to unify with Taiwan, using force if necessary.
In an unusual footnote, the report said that Beijing “contends” that Taiwan is a province that was seized from it by Japan during a time of Chinese weakness and that Taiwan must eventually reunify with the mainland.
“However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never ruled Taiwan, which instead has been led by the Republic of China (ROC) government since the defeat of Japan in 1945,” the footnote said. “After losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communists, the Kuomintang (KMT)-ruled ROC retreated across the Taiwan Strait in 1949. Since that time, Taiwan’s political system has evolved from a one-party state under KMT rule into a multi-party democracy.”
Official US documents that mention Taiwan’s status often refer to the “one China” policy and do not usually point out that the CCP has never ruled the island.
The CRS report said that the PLA’s planning for a potential conflict over Taiwan also might deter Taiwan from declaring independence.
“The PLA has a high concentration of forces based in China’s southeast, near Taiwan, especially amphibious and airborne assault units,” it said.
Although the military balance across the Taiwan Strait has steadily shifted in favor of the PRC as its defense spending has dwarfed the ROC’s, the report said “an invasion of Taiwan would be a daunting undertaking.”
“The potential intervention of the US to defend Taiwan would present enormous challenges for the PLA,” it said. “[The] Department of Defense assesses that China continues to develop capabilities that serve to specifically dissuade, deter or if ordered, defeat possible third-party intervention during a large-scale, theater campaign such as a Taiwan contingency,” it said.
The report said that many US China-watchers assert that China’s main reason for strengthening the PLA is to ensure that the status of Taiwan is resolved on terms favorable to Beijing.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS