{"id":25329,"date":"2022-11-29T18:27:40","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T18:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/11\/29\/pentagon-sees-no-imminent-threat-to-taiwan-from-chinese-buildup\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:04:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:04:35","slug":"pentagon-sees-no-imminent-threat-to-taiwan-from-chinese-buildup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2022\/11\/29\/pentagon-sees-no-imminent-threat-to-taiwan-from-chinese-buildup\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon sees no imminent threat to Taiwan from Chinese buildup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new report from the Pentagon details China\u2019s more provocative and aggressive actions toward Taiwan<\/a>, but Defense Department officials say those actions do not mean an invasion will happen soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual China Military Power Report sent to Congress this week noted that the country\u2019s military overhaul<\/a> is continuing apace, including the modernization of its capabilities and the expansion of its nuclear arsenal. It comes amid heightened tension between China and Taiwan, and as President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see any kind of imminent indications of an invasion,\u201d a senior defense official told reporters Monday. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely very focused on this level of more intimidating and coercive behavior, and watching closely to see how things unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report reiterates that China is the only country with the will and the military capacity, while still getting up to speed, to challenge what it describes as the U.S.-led \u201cworld order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country has set 2049 as its goal for achieving a \u201cworld-class\u201d military that could presumably rival U.S. capabilities, to be achieved through weapons modernization, expanded military basing and advanced warfare capabilities, to include information operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is also getting into the multidomain game, according to the report, dubbing their \u201cnew core operational concept\u201d with the eerily familiar \u201cMultiDomain Precision Warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the U.S. doctrine, this approach involves advanced networking capabilities. Specifically, it \u201cincorporates advances in big data and artificial intelligence to rapidly identify key vulnerabilities in the U.S. operational system and then combine joint forces across domains to launch precision strikes against those vulnerabilities,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the focus on modernization is aimed at Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan is squarely in China\u2019s crosshairs, with an increase in 2021 of activity in the Taiwan strait, \u201cto include increased flights into Taiwan\u2019s self-declared Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and conducting island seizure exercises,\u201d the report found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s goal of modernization by 2027, to include \u201cmechanization, informatization and intelligentization,\u201d would make its military \u201cmore credible\u201d in its efforts to bring Taiwan under its control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Taiwan, China is also likely looking into developing more overseas bases, beyond its current hub in Djibouti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe PRC has likely considered Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola, and Tajikistan, among other places, as locations for PLA military logistics facilities,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuclear weapons and beyond<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

China is continuing its accelerated nuclear expansion and has an estimated stockpile of more than 400 nuclear warheads \u2015 which still number fewer than America\u2019s 3,750 nuclear weapons. At this pace, the third-largest nuclear armed power is likely to field a stockpile of 1,500 warheads by 2035, its target for \u201cbasically complete modernization\u201d of its defense forces, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country had kept its nuclear arsenal in the low hundreds for years, but last year\u2019s report said it was on track to have at least 1,000 by 2030, essentially tripling its arsenal within a decade. It\u2019s also building a land-sea-air triad of delivery vehicles similar to those of the U.S. and Russia \u2015 including the H-6N air-to-air refuelable bomber, which it unveiled in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\t