Sunday, December 8, 2019

Is China Planning To Use Force Against Taiwan?

Since the election of Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-Wen in 2016, tensions between China and Taiwan have increased. File Photo courtesy of Office of the President of Taiwan

UPI: Experts: China feeling pressure to use force in Taiwan

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The chances that China will invade Taiwan have increased, but the risk might be too great, two experts said at a conference in Washington, D.C.

"As each day, week, month and year pass over the course of the next decade, there will be increasing pressure within Zhongnanhai to use force," James Fanell, former U.S. Pacific Fleet director of intelligence and information operations, said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies conference. Zhongnanhia is the headquarters of the Communist Party of China.

But Tim Heath, a senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corp., said at the conference Wednesday that China knows using military force could strengthen alliances trying to dampen Chinese growth as a global leader.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Most Taiwanese say an attack is unlikely .... US poll asks about Chinese invasion of Taiwan after 2035 (Taiwan News).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The ideal window and conditions for an attack on Taiwan, outside the possibility of instability in Taiwan itself, are:

US Political Instability+
Major regional conflict bringing in the US (Think Iran, N.Korea)
Growing influence of Chinese Hawkish party members

- Without the US presence, China would certainly be encouraged to invade Taiwan. The EU/NATO are quite powerless in this regard.

Mike Feldhake said...

Too many pacific allies and a strong US presence makes this track very painful. Can you imagine a full scale invasion of a island like Taiwan and a Chinese army taking large cities without it playing out in the Media. I see this very unlikely.