At present, China's Taiwan issue is becoming more and more acute, and as the United States can play fewer and fewer cards in the international game with China, it is becoming more and more likely that the United States will detonate China's Taiwan issue.
So if the Chinese mainland side decides to reunify by force, can the Eastern Theater take Taiwan within 24 hours?
Based on the current comparison of the military strength of the mainland and the armed forces on the island, it is very easy for the Eastern Theater to make the armed forces on the island lose their ability to resist within 24 hours, but it is very difficult to take Taiwan within 24 hours.
PLA cross-sea landing exercises
Comparison of military strength between the two sides of the strait
In terms of troop strength, the PLA Eastern Theater has three group armies with a total strength of about 200,000 troops, in addition to the Eastern Sea Fleet and the Air Force and Rocket Force under its jurisdiction.
The total strength of the island's armed forces is about 100,000, and the navy and air force may also intervene in the battlefield.
In contrast, the PLA's Eastern Theater has a huge advantage in terms of strength alone, not to mention that the PLA also has a huge advantage in equipment.
At present, the PLA is equipped with three main types of fighters, namely J-20, J-16 and J-10C.
PLA Air Force
These three fighters are all equipped with active phased array radar and modern avionics systems, and have extremely strong over-the-horizon strike capabilities and modern air combat capabilities.
Especially the J-20, as one of the few fifth-generation aircraft in the world, the J-20 can completely form a crushing advantage over other fighters.
Compared with the People's Liberation Army, the fighters of the armed forces on the island are much behind.
At present, the best fighter in the hands of the island's armed forces is the F-16 fighter, and it is still a fairly primitive F-16A/B fighter.
F-16 fighter
The service time of this thing is 1979, and until now, its technical level is backward, not to mention compared with the J-20, even the mainland's J-10C can crush it.
In addition to the superiority in fighters, the PLA also has a huge advantage in the navy. As far as China's Taiwan is concerned, the PLA's North Sea Fleet and South China Sea Fleet have formed a sandwich between the two directions, directly forming a blockade of Taiwan from the north and south.
Although the East China Sea Fleet is the smallest of the three major fleets on the mainland in terms of scale and combat effectiveness, compared with the armed forces on the island, its combat effectiveness is still at the crushing level.
East China Sea Fleet
Coupled with the anti-ship missiles mastered by the Rocket Force, the PLA can easily control the sea and air supremacy around the Taiwan Strait and even in the western Pacific Ocean.
It can be said that on the issue of China's Taiwan, the biggest obstacle to China's reunification has never been the military strength of the armed forces on the island, but the interference of external forces like the United States.
In recent years, with the economic development and technological progress of Chinese mainland, the military strength of the two sides of the strait has been further expanded.
If there is no external factor of the United States, it is a sure thing for the PLA to resolve the issue of China's Taiwan.
Pla
The difference is only how many casualties the PLA will pay.
The People's Liberation Army's three major weapons for "attacking Taiwan".
Moreover, the PLA now has three major "sharp weapons for attacking Taiwan," and with these three types of equipment, the PLA can resolve the issue of China's Taiwan at a smaller cost.
The first weapon is a Type 075 amphibious assault ship. The biggest advantage of an amphibious assault ship over a traditional landing ship is that it can carry a large number of helicopters.
For the Army, the advent of helicopters is revolutionary in its combat effectiveness.
Helicopters give the army the "air firepower" that can follow the ground forces at any time, which can greatly improve the ability of infantry to attack fortified positions and solve the enemy's armored forces.
gunship
Pure infantry is basically powerless against tanks, but it is different if the infantry is followed by a helicopter gunship.
In the same way, helicopter gunships also have a huge suppressive force on permanent fortifications and even underground fortifications, and a rocket can basically solve these fortifications. If it really doesn't work, the gunship can also use thermobaric bombs or ground-penetrating bombs.
Therefore, when the Type 075 amphibious assault ship, which can carry a large number of helicopters, is put into the Taiwan Strait battlefield, the PLA can have an extremely huge suppressive power against the armed forces on the island.
The second weapon is a robot dog. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, things like mechanical dogs can begin to appear in the public's eye.
The People's Liberation Army is equipped with mechanical dogs
At present, the People's Liberation Army has put the mechanical dog into the military field and regarded it as a firepower component of the army.
The biggest role of the robot dog in the "Taiwan Strait War" is that it can be used in street fighting. The street fighting was very brutal, and the street fighting in Grozny in the Chechen war directly cast a psychological shadow on Russia.
And the PLA with mechanical dogs can greatly reduce casualties in street battles after landing.
The third "weapon" is the remote sensing satellite system. Satellites can be said to be indispensable equipment for fighting a modern war, and during the Gulf War, the United States attached great importance to the role of satellites in the modern battlefield.
Remote Sensing Satellite System
Later, in the war in Afghanistan and even the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, satellite systems have always played a huge role on the battlefield.
With the remote sensing satellite system, the PLA can conduct real-time monitoring of the island. In this way, as long as the armed forces on the island appear on the ground, the PLA will be able to grasp their movements in real time.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) should not be taken lightly
Of course, the People's Liberation Army, which has a huge military advantage, still cannot be taken lightly, because Taiwan, China, is not a small place.
Taiwan, China, covers an area of 36,000 square kilometers, and its armed forces of more than 100,000 are not small when looking at the world.
Taiwan Island
Moreover, Taiwan is an island with a special topography, and the central mountain range in the middle of it directly causes the physical isolation of the east and west of the island, and various complex terrain and the construction of fortresses on the island by the armed forces on the island in recent decades have made this island have a lot of invisible hidden bunkers.
If the PLA is not fully prepared and psychologically prepared, it will inevitably pay an extremely high price.
What is even worse is that we also have to take into account the issue of external forces meddling in China's Taiwan.
For the United States, China's Taiwan is a card for it to contain China's development. If it has to play this card, it will inevitably find a way to "maximize the benefits" of this card.
Conceptual map of U.S. meddling in the Taiwan issue
Therefore, when the PLA is too smooth in military reunification, the United States will find a way to kidnap the people on the island and bring huge trouble to the PLA's military reunification.
Or to sabotage the island, and then blame the PLA for these things.
Resources:
[1] Global Times, "075 Amphibious Assault Ship Hangar Exposed, Expert: Giving Frontline Troops a Powerful Strike Platform"
[2] China.com, "The People's Liberation Army uses robot dogs in street fighting?"