Calls Tensions With Beijing Worst In 40 Years, Taiwan Defense Minister: Could Invasion In 2025

Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng accompanies Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen to visit a military camp in Jinlioujie District, Yilan. (Wikimedia Commons/總統府)

JAKARTA - Military tensions with China are at their worst in more than 40 years, Taiwan's defense minister said on Wednesday, after Beijing deployed successive warplanes to Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

Tensions have reached new highs between Taipei and Beijing, which claims Tawain as its own territory, with Chinese military aircraft being repeatedly flown through Taiwan's ADIZ.

Over a four-day period starting last Friday, Taiwan reported nearly 150 Chinese air force warplanes entering the air defense zone, part of a pattern Taipei calls continued abuse of sovereignty.

Asked by a lawmaker about the current military tensions with China in Taiwan's Parliament, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-Cheng said, "the situation is the most serious in the more than 40 years since he joined the military", adding there is a risk of a 'misfire' across the Straits. Sensitive Taiwan.

"For me as a military man, the urgency is right in front of me," he told a parliamentary committee reviewing special military spending of Tw$240 billion or about US$8.6 billion on homemade weapons, including missiles and warships.

China says Taiwan should be taken by force if necessary. Taiwan, meanwhile, says it is an independent country and will defend freedom and democracy, blaming China for tensions.

Chiu said China already had the capability to attack Taiwan and it would be capable of a "full-scale" invasion by 2025.

"By 2025, China will bring costs and friction to the lowest. It has the capacity now, but it won't start a war easily, have to take many other things into account," he said.

Meanwhile, the United States, Taiwan's main military supplier, has confirmed its "rock-solid" commitment to Taiwan and has also criticized China. At the same time, Beijing blamed Washington's policy of supporting Taiwan with arms sales and sending warships through the Taiwan Strait, causing tensions to escalate.

To note, Taiwan's special military spending over the next five years will mostly go towards naval weapons, including anti-ship weapons such as land-based missile systems.