More

    China may invade Taiwan by 2025, Taiwan defense minister says

    Taiwanese defence ministry has warned that China could be capable of mounting a “full-scale” invasion of the Island by 2025.

    The warning by the Taiwanese defence ministry comes days after 77 Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s air defense zone.

    Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which the defeated Nationalists fled to Taipei. However, Beijing views Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory even though the Chinese Communist Party has never governed the democratic island of about 24 million people.

    China could be ready to mount a full-scale invasion by 2025, Taiwan defense minister says

    Beijing has refused to rule out military force to capture Taiwan if necessary, and blames what it calls “collusion” between Taiwan and the United States for rising tensions.

    “With regards to staging an attack on Taiwan, they currently have the ability. But [China] has to pay the price,” Chiu Kuo-cheng, the defense minister, told Taiwanese journalists on Wednesday, October 6.


    But he said that by 2025, that price will be lower — and China will be able to mount a “full-scale” invasion.

    At a parliament meeting Wednesday, Chiu described cross-strait military tensions as “the most serious” in more than 40 years since he joined the military, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

    At the meeting, the Taiwan military submitted a report to lawmakers saying China’s anti-intervention and blockade capabilities around the Taiwan Strait will become mature by 2025, according to CNA.

    Lawmakers also reviewed an $8.6 billion special defense budget for homemade weapons, including missiles and warships.

    Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Chiu said that Taiwan has not made any moves to provoke an attack in response to the Chinese air incursions.


    “We will make preparations militarily,” he said. “I think our military is like this — if we need to fight, we will be on the front lines.”