China forced to rethink plan to take Taiwan

CHINA will be recalibrating its plan to seize Taiwan to take into account lessons learned from Iran’s failed attack on Israel, defence experts say.

Beijing, which has a history of military co-operation with Tehran, will be looking at how to overcome the highly advanced technology and effective alliance that led to 99 per cent of Iranian drones and missiles being intercepted.

Rupert Hammond-Chambers, the president of the US-Taiwan business council, said: “They will be picking apart what transpired, not just in the way in which the Iranians attacked but also how we responded – the Israelis and the coalition that supported them.

“The kill rate for the missiles was extremely high, almost perfect. The walk-away for the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] will be that the Americans and their allies have the technology to significantly blunt an attack.”

A barrage of drone and missile strikes would be a critical part of any conventional attack on the island of 23.5 million people.

China has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in upgrading its military capabilities, including a rapidly expanding arsenal of thousands of short to intercontinental range ballistic missiles and an estimated 500 operational nuclear warheads.

A recent purge by Xi Jinping, China’s president, of the top ranks of the strategic rocket force overseeing this growing stockpile has raised questions about whether widespread corruption could undermine efforts to modernise the armed forces and China’s war readiness.

Taiwan, on the front lines of China’s formidable military build-up, still remains outmatched and facing a huge threat from medium-range ballistic missile systems along the southeastern Chinese coast.

The arsenal is reported to include the DF-17 hypersonic ballistic missile that, say experts, could reach Taiwan in just six to eight minutes.

Taiwan’s defence capabilities are improving with investment in US-made PAC-3 missile defence systems and its own missile programmes, said Mr Hammond-Chambers, adding the country would soon have the largest F-16 combat aircraft fleet in the region.