This Is How the U.S. Thinks China Could Invade Taiwan

But what if Beijing has other ideas?

The National Interest
Date: July 6, 2018 
By: Michael Peck

A Pentagon report from 2014 lays out China’s military options for invading Taiwan. And while a huge amphibious assault is one possibility for “reunifying” Taiwan with mainland China, Beijing’s burgeoning arsenal gives it plenty of other options.

The invasion analysis is part of the latest edition of the Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military capabilities and strategy. It doesn’t just reflect an assessment of China’s military options. It also reflects how the U.S.—which could in theory go to war with China in order to stop an invasion of Taiwan—views the advantages and disadvantages of those options.

(This first appeared in WarIsBoring in 2014.)

The report presents four military options in escalating order of force.

Naval blockade:

China could starve out Taiwan, which imports much of its food and fuel. Beijing could compel ships to stop in mainland ports for inspection. Or, the Chinese Communist Party could declare the waters around Taiwan to be live-fire training zones, discouraging ships from entering, just as it did in 1995.    [FULL  STORY]