In different circumstances, this could be alarming sight. Taiwan’s fighter pilots are trained to land on freeways between sorties in case all of the island’s airports have been occupied or destroyed by an invasion.
Luckily, this was a training exercise.
There’s only really one enemy that Taiwan’s armed forces are preparing to resist — China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). And as China’s reputation as an economic and military superpower has grown in recent years, so too has that threat of invasion, according to security experts.
At a regional security conference in June, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said:
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“If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military has no choice but to fight at all costs for national unity.” In some shops in mainland China, you can buy postcards and T-shirts emblazoned with patriotic emblems promoting the retaking of Taiwan.
But for seven decades, China has resisted attacking Taiwan partly for political reasons, including the prospect of a US intervention and the potential heavy human toll. But the practical realities of a full-blown invasion are also daunting for the PLA, according to experts.
Ferrying hundreds of thousands of troops across the narrow Taiwan Strait to a handful of reliable landing beaches, in the face of fierce resistance, is a harrowing prospect. Troops would then have a long slog over Taiwan’s western mudflats and mountains to reach the capital, Taipei.
Not only that, but China would face an opponent who has been preparing for warfor almost 70 years.
Source: Analysis: Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be bloody, logistical nightmare
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