Taiwan and China Tension

For years Taiwan has wanted to break away from being the Republic of China and become its own independent country. On the other hand, China is very against this and is threatening to use force if Taiwan tries to ever become independent. They’ve both been able to settle matters beforehand, like letting Taiwan become a Republic of China, so it’s still connected to China but it is it’s own country so they “don’t officially need to ever declare their own independence.” If they ever do, China has made it clear that they’ll use force to stop it, and recently tensions have been rising between Taiwan and China.

The uprising conflict between China and Taiwan affects more countries than just those two. The U.S. has Taiwan’s back, and because the U.S. and China are two global superpowers, it could turn out very bad. According to the New York Times, the United States warned that China’s “provocative military activity” undermined “regional peace and stability.” The United States made an agreement to defend Taiwan if attacked, and with both sides having access to some of the most advanced weapons in the world, it could turn ugly if anything actually happened between them, which is why this is a bigger deal than just Taiwan and China.

Despite warnings from the US, China seems to be developing the ability to completely take over Taiwan, according to the top US military officer Mark Milley who spoke with U.S. News. & World Report. He added “‘I don’t think that it’s likely in the near future, being defined as six, 12, maybe 24 months, that kind of window.’” The US wants to currently focus on helping build Taiwan’s military and defense, in turn not sharing what they would do if China were to try to invade and take back Taiwan.

China’s been preparing a lot of military force to invade Taiwan. According to ABC News, since the beginning of October Beijing has sent more than 150 military aircrafts into Taiwan’s air defense zone to try and intimidate them. Taiwan’s Defense Minister fears that China may very well be able to launch a “full scale invasion” by 2025. The tensions between China and Taiwan are currently higher than they’ve been in years and they have to worry about potentially getting the US involved, which could lead to a conflict between the US and China. The reason China wants Taiwan back is because they view it as a “break-away province” that eventually “has” to get reunited with China. On the other hand, Taiwan wants to be its own independent country and is now preparing for China to invade to take the land back.

Those are just a few of the main reasons why China and Taiwan have currently been on the news. Their conflict would involve more than just those two countries, and with the amount of force China’s preparing to invade with, it could end up being very destructive. If China invades, it could also involve the US. In conclusion, the Taiwan and China conflict is bigger and more serious than it seems.