Chinese mainland's military spending in 2019 was about 1.2 trillion yuan, while Taiwan Province's military spending was less than 100 billion yuan in the same year. In fact, after so many years of development, the PLA has far surpassed Taiwan's strawberry soldiers in terms of both the number and quality of its soldiers.
In terms of weaponry, we have run over Taiwan's armed forces in all aspects of the sea, land, and air, and the Taiwanese armed forces can only obtain a small amount of relatively advanced weapons through smuggling and other means. Judging by all aspects, the PLA now has the capability to resolve the Taiwan issue.
However, we have so far stressed our desire for a peaceful solution, not the use of force. What is the reason for this? Is it really because we are afraid of the US military intervention in Taiwan, as it has been said on the Internet?
The importance of Taiwan
We often say that Taiwan is very important, but in fact its importance is not only important to Chinese mainland. The island of Taiwan is of irreplaceable importance to neighboring countries such as Japan, South Korea, and even the United States, which is far away across the ocean.
For China, Taiwan is a territory ceded by China during its era of humiliation. Bringing Taiwan back to China and settling the Taiwan issue once and for all is of symbolic significance for enhancing the self-confidence of the Chinese nation and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
In a practical sense, Taiwan is located on the opposite shore of Fujian, and from the entire map, Taiwan is the front station of Chinese mainland into the Pacific Ocean. Merchant ships and warships from the mainland can enter the Pacific Ocean from here.
And conversely, if Taiwan does not return to China, then it is a bridgehead to blockade Chinese mainland. The hostile forces can calmly deploy forces to monitor and contain China.
For Japan and South Korea, because of their small size, the economic development of these two countries mainly depends on foreign trade, and a large number of goods need to be sent to the world by sea.
And because the industry is very developed, the demand for oil is also very strong, and a large amount of crude oil needs to be transported to Japan and South Korea through the Taiwan Strait.
The Taiwan Strait not only has excellent shipping lanes, but also has calm winds, and the relative transportation distance is much closer than the distance of bypassing Taiwan and going to the Pacific Ocean, which has greatly reduced the transportation costs of these two major maritime countries.
Once Taiwan is taken back by Chinese mainland, then the Taiwan Strait will become China's inland sea. In this way, whether these two countries are developing their economies externally or importing resources internally, they will be choked by China's neck, which is unacceptable to one country.
For the United States, Taiwan is more of a strategic importance. Because the power of the United States is continuing to decline, many allies and younger brothers are skeptical of his ability.
The more this happens, the less the United States can afford to be stimulated. Over the past few decades, the United States has repeatedly publicly made security assurances about the Gulf. If China succeeds in resolving the Taiwan issue by force, and the United States stands idly by, the credibility of the United States, at least in Asia, will be lost.
America's other little brothers in Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, are likely to fall completely to China as a result, creating the domino effect that Americans have been fearing for a long time.
If the United States intervenes militarily when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is settling the Taiwan issue and launches a war against China in China's coastal waters, the price it will have to bear is not acceptable to the United States.
At present, unification of force is not the best option
Although Taiwan is so important, and we have enough force to solve the problem, to be honest, the current time is not the best time to liberate Taiwan by force. There are several reasons for this.
In terms of strength, we do now have the ability to cross the strait. Thousands of troops and horses crossing the strait, and thousands of miles of stormy waves to open the way, is the expectation of many people. It is also true that Taiwan has no way to resist the offensive of the PLA.
But there is a high probability that we will incur completely unnecessary losses. What cannot be avoided is that Taiwan is likely to carry out indiscriminate missile attacks on the mainland's coastal cities under the dog's rush to jump over the wall. If any damage is done, we are not willing to bear it.
Second, while resolving the Taiwan issue, we still hope to preserve Taiwan's economic and industrial base as much as possible.
After reunification, Chinese mainland will certainly strengthen its assistance to Taiwan, and Taiwan's own good industrial foundation can play a very good role in the later stage. Not to mention that Taiwan's chip manufacturing industry has unique advantages in the world, which is also very much needed by the mainland.
If the damage to the local area is too serious during the war, then whether it is post-war reconstruction or the pacification of the local people, it is a very huge project, which requires a huge amount of financial resources and continuous investment.
Third, we need to be prepared for US intervention. The US intervention here does not necessarily mean armed intervention, but it is more likely that after Chinese mainland launched the campaign to liberate Taiwan, the United States and its allies jointly carried out all-round suppression and sanctions against China in the international community.
Just like they are now sanctioning Russia.
In order to prevent this from happening, we need to build our own domestic and foreign dual circulation as soon as possible, and tie more Belt and Road countries to us. So that when the U.S. sanctions us, our economy can also move forward.
At the same time, we must have our own ability to innovate and make breakthroughs in all kinds of high-tech technologies, and we must also minimize our economic and technological dependence on the Western world. It cannot be like the former Soviet Union, once it is blockaded by the United States, the cutting-edge technology of the whole country almost comes to a standstill.
The ideal state is for us to use our absolute strength to resolve the Taiwan issue in a very short period of time, leaving no time for the United States to react, and in the end we can only acquiesce in the occurrence of the incident.
Another reason why the United States is not in a hurry to resolve the Taiwan issue by force at present is that the United States has invested a lot of manpower, material, and political resources in order to protect Taiwan, and it provides assistance to Taiwan every year. Then, if the Taiwan issue is not resolved, we can continue to consume US resources.
From this point of view, the longer the Taiwan issue drags on, the more fully prepared we are, and the smaller our losses will be when that day comes. On the other hand, the United States, the longer it drags on, the greater its investment.
epilogue
Of course, the Taiwan issue will not be postponed indefinitely, but we must not rush forward in order to resolve the Taiwan issue. Only by liberating Taiwan in one fell swoop with all preparations can our motherland truly usher in another great rejuvenation.
Resources:
[1] Social Sciences, I., Chinese Politics and International Politics, Economic and Management Science, On the Geopolitical Importance of Taiwan, 2016. Phase S1
[2] China Taiwan Network, "What is the Taiwan Question", 2021-02-09
[3] The website of the Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China, "The Taiwan Question Brooks No Interference by Any External Forces".2021-03-26