Taiwan preparing for possible war with China

Taiwan is preparing for potential war with China following a series of increasingly aggressive military activity from Beijing, with Taipei’s foreign minister warning that should the nation attack, it would “suffer tremendously.”

China on Monday sent 52 military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the largest military provocation seen yet.

In anticipation of further aggression, the self-ruled island is preparing to repel any strike and has asked Australia to increase intelligence sharing and security cooperation, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told the Australian Broadcast Corporation’s “China Tonight.”

“The defense of Taiwan is in our own hands, and we are absolutely committed to that,” Wu told ABC’s Stan Grant in an interview to be broadcast Monday.

“I’m sure that if China is going to launch an attack against Taiwan, I think they are going to suffer tremendously as well.”

China, which claims that Taiwan is part of its territory, in the past week has stepped up its saber rattling against the island to press it to back down and accept Chinese rule. Taipei, meanwhile, maintains it is a sovereign country separate from Beijing.

China’s latest show of force follows a similar move on Friday, when it sent 38 military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone — at the time the largest number of aircraft it had sent in a single day — and 30 warplanes on Saturday.

In response, the State Department said Sunday that the U.S. is “very concerned” about China’s “provocative military activity near Taiwan” and urged Beijing “to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion” against the island. 

–Updated on Oct. 5 at 5:40 a.m.