AFP, Taiwan :
China is actively building up its armed forces and they would be strong enough by 2020 to launch an invasion of Taiwan, a military report said Tuesday.
Despite closer political ties China is “continuing to accumulate large-scale war capabilities, with the threat of a cross-strait military conflict continuing to exist”, according to the island’s 2015 National Defence Report.
The mainland’s annual military spending has grown on average by double-digit rates over the past decade, second only to the United States, it said. The biennial report published by the defence ministry said China was strengthening its naval and air forces in the region to deter foreign forces from intervening in any invasion. “China believes foreign interference would be its biggest concern if it attacks Taiwan,” it said.
China and Taiwan split at the end of a civil war in 1949. Relations have warmed since current Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in 2008.
But China still sees Taiwan as a breakaway territory and refuses to renounce the use of force should it declare formal independence.
The defence ministry said there was a risk of Taiwan letting its guard down because of increased economic and cultural exchanges in recent years. “Overall (China) is diversifying its Taiwan strategy, forging positive developments in the cross-strait situation, giving them an advantage for any future attacks on Taiwan,” its report said.
Taiwan will elect a new president in January, with the candidate of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai Ing-wen, tipped to win. She has pledged to maintain the status quo if she wins but some analysts have questioned whether cross-strait peace could be maintained.
The defence ministry report also questioned China’s reported military spending, which it said was significantly understated.
The actual budget is estimated to be two to three times the reported figure, putting it on par with the US and Russia, it said. The US is Taiwan’s main ally and sells weapons to the island, a source of discontent for China.
Meanwhile, Chinese media denounced the US Wednesday after Washington sent a warship into disputed South China Sea waters and vowed to do so again, while netizens filled the Internet with angry diatribes, demanding a far stronger reaction from Beijing.
The disputed waters have become the stage for a burgeoning tussle between the world’s two largest economic and military powers as they struggle for regional dominance.
In the latest act, the US sent its destroyer the USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of small artificial islands in the South China Sea that Beijing recently built on reefs despite competing claims from its neighbours, including Washington’s ally Manila.
The US Navy will send more warships, a US official said late Tuesday, telling AFP: “We will do it again. We sail in international waters at a time and place of our choosing.”
In the run-up to Tuesday’s operation, Beijing repeatedly warned that it would take firm action against any country that violated its territorial sovereignty.
But when the long-awaited patrol finally arrived, Beijing only tracked and warned away the vessel, without intervening physically.
Falling back on a tried-and-tested formula, it summoned the US ambassador to protest, denounced Washington’s actions, and made vague threats that it would “resolutely respond”.
