According to reference news reports, the foreign media "Global Firepower" website released the 2024 global military ranking report, which has been released since 2006, ranking the combat capabilities of 145 countries and regions around the world, and the evaluation involves more than 60 indicators such as manpower, equipment, resources, and location. The data is derived from the synthesis of relevant indicators. In the report, Ukraine's military strength was downgraded from 15th in 2023 to 18th. The military strength against Israel has been raised from 18th in 2023 to 17th. The ranking does not include nuclear weapons indicators, and there are many analysts who believe that the relevant rankings are the subjective judgment of the "global firepower" website, and there is a gap between the actual situation and the actual situation. However, the specific data content of the armies of each side is usually only circulated internally, and it is difficult for the outside world to know.
Taiwan media disclosed that the top three military forces released by the website are the United States, Russia, and Chinese mainland, and Taiwan, China, ranks 24th in its ranking, down one place from the ranking in 2023. Guo Zhengliang, a political commentator on the island who once joined the Democratic Progressive Party and announced his withdrawal, commented on the 20th that South Korea's position in the ranking is worth paying attention to, and South Korea ranks fifth, and one of the main reasons is that South Korea's arms exports have increased, and arms exports have rushed to the third place in the world.
South Korea has also recently exported tanks to Poland and supplied artillery shells to Ukraine. Guo Zhengliang's analysis of the military strength of the two sides of the strait said that the ranking is of little significance. No matter how much the Taiwan region develops its military strength, it will not be able to catch up with the mainland. Guo Zhengliang indicated that the island's military expenditure was only 1/16 of that of the mainland.
Guo Zhengliang said that cross-strait relations should not be considered from a military angle, and that there should be room for relaxation politically and that the mainland should not be given an excuse to use force against the island. Guo Zhengliang said that consideration should be given to giving the "international community" "the highest legitimate reasons" to support the island. Guo Zhengliang signaled that the mainland's naval strength is developing rapidly, and the number of warships is already higher than that of the United States. The island should consider how to avoid the mainland encircling the first island chain.
When looking at the data published by the relevant website, it should be noted that the position of the relevant website may be biased due to its own revenue and other reasons. Even in the search of open data, it is difficult to believe that it faithfully reflects the open changes in the global military field. One point that reflects the bias of the website's assessment is that Israel's ranking has been upgraded from 18th to 17th. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that intensified on 7 October last year, the Israeli army suffered a series of problems during the Hamas raid, such as confusion in command, slow response, and lack of quality among military personnel. Middle- and high-level commanders were killed, wounded, and captured by Hamas. The Israeli military's lack of military literacy was even more pronounced in its subsequent ground offensive in Gaza, where its flawed military deployment provided Hamas with plenty of room to infiltrate, blast, and disseminate videos on social media.
The Israeli army's performance bankrupted the military myth it had created with the help of public opinion resources. Obviously, "global firepower" does not include relevant information, and is still upgrading Israel's military ranking as if nothing happened, and is still touting Israel's military strength. In this context, the relevance of its ranking is questionable. At present, the overall decline of the US military strength is driven by three factors.
First, the U.S. real industrial system is heading for an irreversible decline, which is particularly evident in the recent series of accidents involving the Boeing plane, which is the symbol of U.S. industry. Second, the available manpower, which is the core of military construction, is withering away day by day. Problems such as the spread of drugs and the intensification of crime in the country are increasingly tearing down the foundation of the US military. Third, the US military has not performed well on the battlefields in the Middle East and other places when its foundation is unstable. Crashes have occurred one after another, and military supply chain problems have become more and more prominent.
In addition, as an island, the Taiwan military does not have the ability to continue fighting, and it is suspected that the Taiwan military is ranked 24th in the relevant ranking. As the mainland becomes more and more capable of blockading the waters around the island of Taiwan, it can cut off the supply of materials from all sides, including the military on the island, if necessary. The more the mainland has this capability, the broader the space for peaceful reunification of the Taiwan Strait.