China will first attack the Taichung port in the war against Taiwan, warns US thinktank

Washington/Taipei/Beijing: – Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will launch its first attack on the port of Taichung in the war against Taiwan, the US study group ‘Project 2049’ has warned. Ian Stone, senior director of Project 2049, released a report warning that China will make Taiwan’s ports its first target. The port of Taichung is the second largest port in Taiwan and could be a strategic location for the ‘amphibious warfare’ planned by Chinese defence forces, Stone said.

Stone has published a report titled ‘Hostile Harbours: Taiwanese Ports and PLA Invasion Plans’. The report claims that China has been taking steps to attack Taiwan since 1993. It has also been pointed out that Taiwan is referred to as the ‘main strategic direction’ in the Chinese defence policy. In 2016, the merger of two of its shipping companies and the National Defence Transportation Law, introduced in 2017, paved the way for an attack on Taiwan for China, Stone said in his report.

Various analysts claimed that Taiwan is a country made up of many small islands; China will launch attacks on these islands. However, Stone has defied these claims, saying that Taiwanese ports are most at risk according to the Chinese plans. Stone noted that given Taiwan’s geographical location and defence capabilities, attacks on small islands and beaches would not be productive for China’s defence forces. The US thinktank also claimed that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army could deploy a minimum of 13 to a maximum of 22 million troops for the attack on Taiwan.

In addition to landing such a large number of troops, Taiwan’s small island and beaches will cause hindrance in unloading tanks, armoured vehicles, warships and other ships, as well as large quantities of supplies. Therefore, Ian Stone claimed that a large developed port could be the target of the attack. The area around the port of Taichung is open and plain, which could be of great strategic advantage to China, according to a report by a US study group. Stone said that along with Taichung, the ports of Kaohsiung and Anping could also be primary targets for Chinese attacks.

Leading Taiwanese analyst Tzu-Yun Soo also echoed the US thinktank‘s warning. It has been noticed that two important defence bases in Taiwan are close to Taichung port. At the same time, Taiwan’s defence forces will not be able to use anti-amphibious warfare in Taichung or other nearby ports, Xu claimed.

Just last month, Communist Party supremo and Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a stern warning on the issue of the Taiwanese merger. Jinping had warned that China’s communist regime would never leave the issue of Taiwan. Before Jinping’s warning, China had deployed more than 150 stealth fighter jets in the East China Sea sector, including the Taiwan Strait. Chinese defence forces have stepped up operations in Taiwanese territory, with warships, submarines and fighter jets continuing to invade. It has also come to light that China has conducted military exercises in the South China Sea as a colourful rehearsal of the Taiwanese invasion.