China is ramping up its military presence along the mainland’s eastern coast as it prepares for a possible invasion of Taiwan, according to a report.
The People’s Liberation Army has upgraded missile bases and deployed a new hypersonic missile -the country’s most advanced.
“The DF-17 hypersonic missile will gradually replace the old DF-11s and DF-15s that were deployed in the southeast region for decades,” the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday, citing a Beijing-based military source. “The new missile has a longer range and is able to hit targets more accurately.”
The DF-17, with a maximum range of 1,550 miles, was rolled out at last year’s Oct. 1 National Day parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The report said satellite images show that the Marine Corps and Rocket Force bases in Fujian and Guangdong provinces just west of the waterway separating China and Taiwan have expanded in recent years.
“Every rocket force brigade in Fujian and Guangdong is now fully equipped,” Andrei Chang, editor-in-chief of the Canada-based Kanwa Defence Review, told the newspaper. “The size of some of the missile bases in the Eastern and Southern theatre commands have even doubled in recent years, showing the PLA is stepping up preparations for a war targeting Taiwan.”
The White House national security adviser also warned Taiwan to prepare for an invasion.
“I think Taiwan needs to start looking at some asymmetric and anti-access area denial strategies and so on and really fortify itself in a manner that would deter the Chinese from any sort of amphibious invasion or even a gray zone operation against them,” O’Brien said last week, the Voice of America reported.
Beijing, which considers Taiwan a rogue province and has vowed to take it back even by force, has seen relations with the island nation deteriorate as its relationship with the US improves.
In August, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar became the highest ranking US official to visit in decades when he went to discuss the response to the coronavirus.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on a tour of military bases earlier this month told troops to focus their “minds and energy on preparing for war.”
Xi inspected a Marine Corps base in Guangdong province and told the forces to “maintain a state of high alert” and urged them to be “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable.”
That base in Chaozhou would play a critical role in launching an attack on Taiwan, the South China Morning Post reported.
Meanwhile, Japan and Vietnam reached an agreement on Monday to increase their cooperation in defense and security matters in the region to counter China’s expanding military presence, the Associated Press reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga joined Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for talks in Hanoi – the first overseas summit since he took office last month.
The agreement allows Japan to export defense equipment and technology to Vietnam.
“Vietnam is crucial to achieving our vision of ‘the Free and Open Indo-Pacific,’ and our valuable partner,’” Suga told reporters after his meeting with Phuc. “Japan, as an Indo-Pacific nation, will continue to contribute to the peace and stability in this region.”
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October 19, 2020 at 11:08PM
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China reportedly increases military in preparation for invasion of Taiwan - New York Post
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