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China asks PLA to be militarily ready for using force against Taiwan by 2020: MND report

China asks PLA to be militarily ready for using force against Taiwan by 2020: MND report

China be militarily ready against Taiwan by 2020

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) states in a report to the Legislature on Wednesday that China has never diminished its military exercise targeting at Taiwan and that China has required its People's Liberation Army (PLA) to be comprehensively ready for using military force against Taiwan by 2020. The MND says in its “Five-year Force Construction Plan and Administration Plan” that China now has the capability to blockade and take over Taiwan’s off-shore islands. In “Military Power of the People's Republic of China 2016,” another report to the Legislature, the MND said that the circumstances under which the PLA is likely to invade Taiwan include formal declaration of Taiwan independence, undefined moves toward Taiwan independence, internal unrest on Taiwan, Taiwan’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, indefinite delays in the resumption of cross-Strait dialogue on unification, foreign intervention in Taiwan’s internal affairs, and foreign forces stationed on Taiwan. These circumstances are identical with those the Pentagon listed in its annual report to Congress, “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2016,” under which China could attack Taiwan. The U.S. report also states, “China has refused for decades to renounce the use of force to resolve the Taiwan issue, despite simultaneously professing its desire for peaceful unification under the principle of ‘one country, two systems.’ The circumstances under which the mainland has historically warned it would use force have evolved over time in response to the island’s declarations of its political status, changes in PLA capabilities, and China’s view of Taiwan’s relations with other countries.” The MND’s report also states China continues to require its PLA to be militarily ready for using force against Taiwan by 2020.