Want... Judging from China's military investment and modernization in recent years, China would probably invade Taiwan under certain circumstances, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said in a report submitted to the country's Legislature on Monday.
In its 2015 report on China's military power, the ministry assessed that China might invade Taiwan in some critical situations, which could include a declaration of formal independence or moves by the country toward de jure independence. Other scenarios also include massive civil unrest, Taiwan obtaining nuclear weapons, or foreign troops being deployed in Taiwan.
Delays by Taiwan over cross-strait talks on peaceful unification or foreign intervention in Taiwan's internal affairs could also prompt China to invade, the ministry assessed.
Despite detente across the Taiwan Strait in recent years, Beijing has never relinquished the threat of using force to achieve its ultimate goal of unification. The People's Liberation Army conducted a series of exercises at Zhurihe Training Base in Inner Mongolia in July in which replicas of Taiwan's Presidential Office and other key hubs were used as targets, the report pointed out.
If China resorts to military means against Taiwan at the current stage, it would probably resort to joint military operations to attack or use a joint blockade strategy to intimidate Taiwan, the ministry contended, stressing that it might also invade Taiwan proper in certain contingencies if it deemed it necessary to do so.
According to the report, China's military spending rose to 911.4 billion yuan (US$143 billion) in 2015, accounting for 1.34% of GDP and marking a 10% increase year-on-year. The amount is the highest in Asia and the second-highest in the world, it noted, though it trails a long way behind the United States, it noted.
China's real military spending may be twice or triple that amount, making up 4% of GDP — on a par with Russia and the United States — if hidden costs are included, the report said.
As a result of such huge spending, the imbalance in military strength across the strait has sharply widened while China has narrowed its difference with the US.