China's Modernizing Military: Credible Conventional Threat to Taiwan

摘要

Does China have the military capability to threaten Taiwan. What are China's intentions with its newly modernizing military. How much of a threat does that pose to the United States. The assumption generally is that the United States will intervene in some form in the event that China attacked Taiwan. But what if the U.S. does not intervene and Taiwan does not succumb to threats alone. Can China back up its threats and succeed in an invasion of Taiwan using only its conventional forces. How successful has the PLA modernization drive been so far and what promise does it hold in the next few years to achieve the objective of taking Taiwan back by force. The purpose of this thesis is to measure the results of China's military modernization efforts and determine if the PLA has the capability to defeat Taiwan in a conventional war and succeed in an invasion of the island.