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China currently has no plans to invade Taiwan next year, according to US spy agencies.
Rather than intervene militarily, Beijing wants to take control of the main Pacific island without force, according to intelligence assessments.
The annual report states that although Chinese Communist Party leaders do not plan to retake Taiwan by force, the People’s Liberation Army is developing military capabilities that could be used in any attempt to take over the island.
It said: “China’s leaders are not currently planning an invasion Taiwan in 2027, and they also have no fixed deadline to achieve unification.”
The assessment comes as Beijing increases pressure on Taiwan frequent military exercises in one of the world’s biggest conflict hotspots.
The Pentagon said last year that the US military believed it China is preparing to take over Taiwan through “violence” in 2027 – the centenary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
But the latest report, released on Wednesday, said Beijing preferred to “peacefully” achieve its goal of “reunification” with the democratically ruled island.
“China, despite threats to use force to force unification if necessary and to counter what it sees as US efforts to use Taiwan to undermine China’s rise, prefers to achieve unification without the use of force, if possible,” the report said.
He added that the PLA was making “steady but uneven” progress in the capabilities they could use to seize Taiwan.
Explosive barrels placed by the Taiwanese military in the Tamsui river. Photo: Reuters
China’s Foreign Ministry responded to the report by saying that the US must improve its understanding of China and that resolving the Taiwan issue is a matter for China alone.
But Japan rejected claims in the report that there had been a “significant change” in Tokyo’s attitude towards Taiwan, after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a Chinese attack on the island would trigger a Japanese response.
Minoru Kihara, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, said: “The government’s position in assessing the existing crisis situation based on all the information it has gathered is consistent with the past.
“The assessment that there has been a major change is not accurate.”
Photo: Reuters
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China responded angrily to Ms. Takaichi’s statement that Japan would take military action in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, urging its people not to travel to Japan and choking some exports.
Ms Takaichi has stated that her position – which raises the risk of a Chinese attack on Taiwan sparking regional conflict – is consistent with Japan’s longstanding policy.
The US report said: “China is applying multi-domain coercive pressure that is likely to escalate through 2026, aimed at punishing Japan and deterring other countries from making similar statements about their potential involvement in the Taiwan crisis.”
US President Donald Trumpwho postponed his planned trip to China later this month because of the Iran war, has repeatedly touted his “good relations” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and downplayed the threat of Chinese drills near Taiwan.
He said Xi told him he would not attack Taiwan as long as the US president was in office, although Beijing never confirmed this.
China views Taiwan – which was founded in 1949 when a nationalist government withdrew after Communist forces seized power on the Chinese mainland – as its own territory, and has never ruled out using force to seize the island.
Taiwan rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty, saying only the island’s people can determine its future.
