Taiwan says military threat against it from China growing

Jul 19, 2011, 10:47 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan said on Tuesday the military threat to it from formal political rival China has grown, despite warming cross-strait ties.

A new defence white paper said the island must step up its defence capability as Beijing has yet to renounce the use of force against Taiwan - even though the two sides have mended fences since China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008 and adopted a policy of engagement with the mainland.

'In terms of troops, the communist forces have 2.3 million troops, almost ten times more than the 270,000 troops we have, and in terms of weapons, its ballistic missiles and submarines are far superior,' said the ministry in its white paper published every two years.

'This indicates that the military balance in army, navy and air force has tilted towards the communist side,' the report said.

In addition to more than 1,000 missiles deployed along its southeast coast, targeting Taiwan, the report said China has deployed a small number of Dong Feng-21 D medium range missiles, which would become a threat to the aircraft carriers used by the United States to intervene in the event of cross-strait conflict in the future.

Taiwan and China had been rival since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949. Despite improvement of relations in recent years, Beijing still considers the island a province that must be brought back to the mainland's fold.

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