How Taiwan prepares for the invasion of China
Giuseppe Gagliano's analysis
Mainland China will have the ability to stage a full-scale invasion of Taiwan by 2025, Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said Wednesday. has sent 150 warplanes to increase pressure on the island in recent days.
"It is the most difficult situation I have seen in more than 40 years of my military life," said Chiu, referring to the very high number of sorties by the People's Liberation Army warplanes in the air defense identification zone of the United States. 'Island .
He further said that by 2025, Beijing would be able to keep the cost of such a conflict to a minimum, which meant it would have the "full capacity" to start a war, but it needed to consider various factors before doing so.
Chiu intends to revise a special budget of NT $ 240 billion ($ 8.6 billion) for the purchase of domestically produced weapons. The purchases require legislative approval and would add to the planned military spending of NT $ 471.7 billion for next year.
Beijing, which considers Taiwan its territory and promises to take control, if necessary by force, has intensified military intimidation against the island by sending 150 warplanes, including fighters and bombers, to the island's ADIZ since Friday. .
While most of the warplanes flew into the southwest of the area, some made their way to the southeast section, posing an even greater threat to Taiwan due to its proximity to the self-governing island military zone in eastern Taiwan. Taiwan.
The PLA has been sending warplanes around the island almost every day for the past year, but in recent days it has also been sending warplanes at night.
In terms of risk, Chiu said the situation is at the point where a misjudgment could lead to an unintended conflict.
The special budget of NT $ 240 billion will be spent over the next five years, with the bulk of it going to naval weapons. According to the Ministry of Defense, approximately 64% of the money would be spent on anti-ship weapons such as ground-based missile systems, including a $ 148.9 billion NT plan for the mass production of missiles and "high-performance" ships. .
Missiles on the shopping list include coastal anti-ship missile systems, Tien Kung III (Sky Bow III) surface-to-air missiles, strike drone systems, Wan Chien missile system (Thousand Swords) and Hsiung Feng IIE (Brave Wind) system missile.
Some of the extra funds would also be used to purchase another 10 Ta Jiang stealth missile corvettes – dubbed the "carrier killer" – after the Navy commissioned the first one last month.
Regarding Taiwan's successful development of the much-reported Yun Feng missile, which has a range of 1,200 km (745 miles), putting the inland areas of the mainland within close range, Chiu said Taiwan is working hard on it.
Chiu said Taiwan must not rely on others for its safety and must be able autonomously to fend off enemy aggression on its own. However, the US is Taiwan's main military supplier and has confirmed its commitment by calling it "rock solid" to Taiwan.
However, US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping of Taiwan and the Dragon appears to have agreed to abide by the "Taiwan Agreement".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/cina-taiwan-invasione/ on Thu, 07 Oct 2021 06:25:20 +0000.