China is nearly ready. Laser-focused for more than two decades on building up a military force that could feasibly cross the Taiwan Strait, land on Taiwanese beaches and then march on Taipei, the Chinese Communist Party is preparing to finally achieve its ultimate goal: brutally “reunifying” Taiwan’s young democracy with China’s entrenched autocracy.
“The stakes scarcely could be higher,” analysts Andrew Erickson and Gabriel Collins wrote in a new volume for the US Naval War College. Ominously, the coming clash could occur at a nadir for American strength and resolve. Inasmuch as Taiwan is counting on the United States to save it, it’s risking its own future.
“China has achieved the most dramatic military buildup since World War II through concerted efforts over the past quarter-century,” Erickson and Collins wrote. “Previously limited in its ability to execute its [war plans], the People’s Liberation Army is making rapid progress toward acquiring achievability.”
There’s no time for dawdling in Taipei and Washington DC. Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the US Navy’s top officer, has signalled that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is likeliest to kick off by 2027, in what we now know will be the third year of US President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. Trump’s vengeful temperament, fading cognition and authoritarian aspirations add further risk to an already fraught state of affairs.
China is nearly ready. Laser-focused for more than two decades on building up a military force that could feasibly cross the Taiwan Strait, land on Taiwanese beaches and then march on Taipei, the Chinese Communist Party is preparing to finally achieve its ultimate goal: brutally “reunifying” Taiwan’s young democracy with China’s entrenched autocracy.
“The stakes scarcely could be higher,” analysts Andrew Erickson and Gabriel Collins wrote in a new volume for the US Naval War College. Ominously, the coming clash could occur at a nadir for American strength and resolve. Inasmuch as Taiwan is counting on the United States to save it, it’s risking its own future.
“China has achieved the most dramatic military buildup since World War II through concerted efforts over the past quarter-century,” Erickson and Collins wrote. “Previously limited in its ability to execute its [war plans], the People’s Liberation Army is making rapid progress toward acquiring achievability.”
There’s no time for dawdling in Taipei and Washington DC. Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the US Navy’s top officer, has signalled that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is likeliest to kick off by 2027, in what we now know will be the third year of US President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. Trump’s vengeful temperament, fading cognition and authoritarian aspirations add further risk to an already fraught state of affairs.