Communist China plans brutal takeover of Taiwan

FPI / August 20, 2024

Seeing an independent Taiwan as the greatest threat to its power, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is planning a brutal takeover of the island democracy by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and vows to sentence dissenters to death, including foreign institutions, organizations, and individuals who support Taiwan’s freedom, an analyst wrote.

Taiwan needs to double defense spending as the CCP is "prepared to kill Taiwanese by the millions, which also will initiate their longer war against democracies," Richard Fisher, a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, warned in an Aug. 19 analysis for the Taipei Times.

China's propaganda outlets are indicating that "a CCP/PLA occupation of Taiwan will be an exercise in bi-partisan horror and brutality; it will massacre Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT) leaders, activists and members without hesitation," wrote Fisher, who is also a contributing editor for Geostrategy-Direct.com.

On Aug. 8, the CCP proxy, Hong Kong's once respected South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on a leaked report of the Cross-Strait Institute of Urban Planning at Xiamen University, which proposed the creation of a “Taiwan Central Work Committee” that would act as a “shadow government” for a newly-conquered Taiwan.

According to the SCMP's report, the ruling committee should “be ready to assume control of the island’s administration at any moment.”

"One of the SCMP’s missions is to peddle psychological warfare, fear and deception, but it does offer partial truth in noting that the Xiamen University study 'offers a rare glimpse of the discussions going on in mainland China over the future of self-ruled Taiwan,' " Fisher noted.

"But even before the first PLA invader shoots the first Taiwan citizen, the CCP is spooling up its 'reign of terror' for the people of Taiwan, which could quickly transition to the harassment of citizens from any country that support the right of a free Taiwan to exist," he added.

On June 21, the state-run Xinhua media outlet announced new guidelines punishing supporters of “Taiwan independence,” issued by “the Supreme People’s Court [of China], the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministries of public security, state security, and justice” which now enable Chinese authorities to impose a “death penalty and a trial in absentia in relevant cases.”

Xinhua says that “those who are found to have colluded with any foreign or overseas institution, organization or individual in committing such crimes, should be given a harsher punishment,” meaning that foreign institutions, organizations, and individuals supporting Taiwan’s freedom could also, ultimately, suffer death penalties.

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The Xiamen University report notes: “The recent unrest in Hong Kong shows that the one country, two systems approach of fully accepting the existing system is not necessarily suitable for Taiwan… Taiwan should aim to fully integrate into the mainland from the beginning.”

The Xiamen University report has also exposed the CCP's promise in its 2022 White Paper of "autonomy" for Taiwan as another fabrication.

On Aug. 7, CCP mouthpiece Global Times reported that China’s Taiwan Affairs Council, which conducts the CCP’s relations with Taiwan, and the Ministry of Public Security (police) issued a short list of Taiwan independence “diehards,” focusing on the current DPP leadership of Taiwan, and a snitch email address for “netizens to report secessionists.”

The CCP has chosen a good year to peddle its threats, Fisher noted.

"Taiwan’s main supporter, the United States, is mired in a divisive election cycle, and whether the victor is former President Donald Trump or current Vice President Kamala Harris, after inauguration in January it will take a year or more to choose key personnel, get them confirmed by Congress, determine new policies, and secure the budgets to implement them."

And, Fisher added, "a divided U.S. Congress could further delay the process."

China currently heads up "a coalition of dictatorships that include Russia, North Korea and Iran, all nuclear armed (Iran is soon to be), that singly or jointly could force multiple major military crises which could divert already strained US military resources from a timely, adequate response to a Taiwan Strait crisis," Fisher wrote.

The PLA's ability to rapidly mobilize for a Taiwan invasion was demonstrated by the May 23-24 “Joint Sword” 2024A joint-force exercises around Taiwan, which began with scant warning and saw the PLA deploy over 100 combat aircraft and 19 PLA Navy and Coast Guard ships.

"For its invasion, PLA Navy amphibious craft plus scores of large ferries could transport 100,000 troops to Taiwan, with 3,000 Airbus and Boeing airliners pumping in tens of thousands more, or the PLA could mass over 10,000 fishing ships to vastly complicate Taiwan’s defenses," Fisher noted.

In a July 16 interview with Bloomberg at the Republican National Convention, Trump’s last National Security Advisor, Robert O’Brien, said: “They’ve [the Taiwanese] got to ramp up their spending to contend with the PRC and CCP, and we can help them, we can be part of that. But I think what President Trump is saying is ... we’ve got to have burden sharing.”

O’Brien then suggested that Taiwan basically double its defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.

For Taiwan this would be a major sum, over 40 percent of government spending.

Fisher noted: "But at this time when the CCP’s invasion threats are becoming immediate, and it is revealing its 'reign of terror' for the people of Taiwan, is 5 percent enough?

"A major increase in military spending that approached the 5 percent of GDP level would garner attention not just in Washington, but also in Beijing and Tokyo."

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