Taiwan military says China lacks ability to invade, but has other options
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Friday that while China lacks the ability to fully invade, it has other options to threaten the self-governing island democracy.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China lacks the ability to “fully” invade Taiwan as it does not have the equipment, but is bringing on line advanced new weapons and has other options to threaten Taiwan, such as inspecting foreign cargo ships, the island’s defense ministry said.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past five years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. The government of the defeated Republic of China fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists, and no peace treaty or armistice has ever been signed.
In an annual threat assessment of China sent to lawmakers on Friday, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, Taiwan’s defense ministry said Beijing continues to hone skills such as joint command operations.
“However, the use of tactics and strategies against Taiwan is still limited by the natural geographical environment of the Taiwan Strait and insufficient landing equipment and logistic capabilities,” it said.
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