Taiwan: Tensions With China Worse In Four Decades

Taiwan defence minister says tensions with China are the worst in four decades

REUTERS

Military tensions with China are at their worst in more than 40 years, Taiwan’s defence minister said on Wednesday (Oct 6), days after record numbers of Chinese aircraft flew into the island’s air defence zone.

Tensions have hit a new high between Taipei and Beijing, which claims the island as its own territory, and Chinese military aircraft have repeatedly flown through Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.

Over a four-day period beginning last Friday, Taiwan reported close to 150 Chinese air force aircraft entered its air defence zone, part of a pattern of what Taipei calls Beijing’s continued harassment of the island. Just one incursion was reported on Tuesday. 

Asked by a lawmaker on the current military tensions with China at the parliament, Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the situation was “the most serious” in more than 40 years since he joined the military, adding there was a risk of a “misfire” across the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

“For me as a military man, the urgency is right in front of me,” he told a parliamentary committee reviewing a special military spending of T$240 billion (S$11.7 billion) for home-made weapons including missiles and warships.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province awaiting reunification with the mainland, by force if necessary. Taiwan says it will defend its freedoms and democracy, blaming China for the tensions.

Chiu said China already has the ability to invade Taiwan and it will be capable of mounting a “full scale” invasion by 2025.

“By 2025, China will bring the cost and attrition to its lowest. It has the capacity now, but it will not start a war easily, having to take many other things into consideration.”

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen also said on Wednesday at a meeting of her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party: “Actions taken by... (China) have seriously damaged peace and stability in the region.”

“I want to tell the authority in Beijing that it has to exercise restraint to avoid potential conflicts due to miscalculations or accidents,” she added.