Yimou Lee

TAIPEI (Reuters – China’s armed forces can blockade Taiwan’s major harbours or airports. The island’s defence minister said Tuesday that the country’s latest assessment of what it considers a grave military threat from China was published.

China has not renounced using force to take over democratic Taiwan. In fact, it has intensified military activity in the area. This includes repeatedly flying warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense zone.

In a report that it publishes every two years, Taiwan’s defense ministry stated that China launched “gray” warfare. It cited 554 Chinese warplane “intrudes” into the southwestern theater of its air defence identification zone from September 2013 to August.

According to Reuters, military analysts believe the tactic is aimed towards subduing Taiwan by exhaustion.

The Taiwan ministry stated that China’s People’s Liberation Army is also aiming to modernize its forces by 2035 in order to gain “superiority in possible operations towards Taiwan” and to have viable capabilities to deny foreign troops, which would be a serious threat to national security.

The ministry stated that the PLA was capable of setting up a local blockade to our vital harbours and airports and our outbound flight routes. This would cut off communication links and disrupt the flow of military supplies and logistics resources.

China regards Taiwan as Chinese territory. The defense ministry of China did not respond immediately to our request for comment.

Taiwan’s President TsaiIng-wen claims Taiwan is an independent nation and pledges to protect its democracy and freedom.

Tsai, who has declared Taiwan’s defenses as a top priority, pledged to increase Taiwan’s production of weapons domestically, including sub-marines and buy more equipment in the United States. This is Taiwan’s biggest arms supplier and international supporter.

Taiwan announced that 148 Chinese planes were seen in the region’s southern and southwestern theaters over the course of a four day period. This was a major escalation between Beijing and Taipei.

Taipei considers the recent rise in China’s military exercise in Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone part of a well-planned strategy to harass.

Ministry stated, “Its intimidating behaviour does not only deplete our combat power and shake out our faith and morale; it also attempts to alter the status quo of the Taiwan Strait and ultimately to achieve its goal of ‘seizing Taiwan without fighting’.”

The ministry pledged to intensify its efforts in “asymmetric warfare” so that any Chinese attack will be as painstaking and difficult as possible.

This includes precise strikes with long-range missiles against targets in China and the deployment of coast minefields, as well as training to boost reserve.