China is improving its strike capabilities to cut off Taiwanese air and sea communication, the defence ministry warns in its latest assessment of what it describes as a “grave” military threat posed by its neighbour.
China's armed forces are capable of blockading Taiwan's key harbours and airports, the island's defence ministry said, offering its latest assessment of what it describes as a "grave" military threat posed by its giant neighbour.
Beijing is strengthening its air, sea and land strike capabilities against the island, the ministry said in a biennial report released on Tuesday.
Those capabilities include imposing a "blockade against our critical harbours, airports and outbound flight routes, to cut off our air and sea lines of communication," the report added.
The report also warned that China is capable of striking all of Taiwan with its missile arsenal, including ballistic and cruise variants, and is also beefing up its ability to launch amphibious assaults on the island.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratic Taiwan under its control and has been ramping up military activity around the island, including repeatedly flying war planes into Taiwan's air defence zone.
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'Asymmetric warfare'
To counter China's attempt to "seize Taiwan swiftly whilst denying foreign interventions", the ministry vowed to deepen its efforts on "asymmetric warfare" to make any attack as painful and as difficult for China as possible.
That includes precision strikes by long-range missiles on targets in China, deployment of coastal minefields as well as boosting reserve training.
At the same time, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is aiming to complete the modernisation of its forces by 2035 to "obtain superiority in possible operations against Taiwan and viable capabilities to deny foreign forces, posing a grave challenge to our national security", the Taiwan ministry said.
China views Taiwan as Chinese territory. Its defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan is already an independent country and vows to defend its freedom and democracy.
In October, Taiwan reported 148 Chinese air force planes in the southern and southwestern theatre of the zone over a four-day period, marking a dramatic escalation of tension between Taipei and Beijing.
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