Beijing favoring invasion, Pentagon report saysStaff writer, with CNA, WASHINGTONBeijing could eventually see a full invasion of Taiwan as the only “prudent” way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in an annual report to the US Congress on Tuesday. Beijing’s leaders generally view the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to seize the nation while countering potential US involvement, the report said. A landing campaign involving a large-scale amphibious invasion of Taiwan would be the most decisive and riskiest option, it said. The three less-dramatic options, also covered in last year’s report, were coercion short of war, a joint firepower strike campaign and a joint blockade campaign. Conversely, if the defense budget is frozen, Taiwan’s military would essentially be disarmed, which would lower the threshold China must match to launch an invasion, he said.
