China will be capable of mounting a full scale invasion of Taiwan by 2025, the island’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng has said, describing current tensions as the worst in 40 years. Speaking to the China Times on Wednesday, Chiu said China was capable now, but would be completely prepared to launch an invasion in three years. Beijing claims Taiwan as a province of China and has vowed to retake it, by force if necessary, and accuses its democratically elected government of being separatists. On Tuesday Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen wrote that Taiwan would not be “adventurists” but would do “whatever it takes” to defend itself. Taiwan is vastly outgunned by China’s military and so has focused on developing an asymmetric, or “porcupine” defence system to deter or repel a ground invasion.

Source: The Guardian October 06, 2021 00:50 UTC