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CHINA is “credibly preparing” for a military invasion of Taiwan and the attack is “real and imminent”, the US Defence Secretary has warned.
Pete Hegeseth said that Communist Beijing was “rehearsing for the real deal” and described the looming threat as a “wake-up call” for the world.
During the annual Shangri-La Dialogue defense forum in Singapore, Hegeseth expressed concerns that China is gearing up to use military force to disrupt the existing balance of power.
The Pentagon chief also charged Beijing with conducting cyberattacks, intimidating its neighbors, and “unlawfully taking over and militarizing territories” in the South China Sea.
His warning comes after China deployed two hulking H-6 bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons on a strategic island in the South China Sea.
China has increased its military pressure on Taiwan, conducting numerous large-scale drills around the island, which are often seen as rehearsals for a blockade or invasion.
Hegseth said: “[Beijing is] credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
“The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent.”
China claims almost the entire disputed waterway in the South China Sea – through which more than 60 per cent of global maritime trade passes.
This is despite an international ruling that Beijing’s assertion has no merit.
In recent months, the Chinese navy has also repeatedly clashed with the Philippines in the strategic waters.
Hegseth warned the Chinese military was building the capabilities to invade Taiwan and “rehearsing for the real deal”.
He called on Asian countries to boost military spending to increase deterrence against China.
Reassuring US allies, Hegseth said the Indo-Pacific was “America’s priority theatre“.
Hegseth said: “[US] is reorienting toward deterring aggression by communist China.
“Asian allies should look to countries in Europe for a newfound example,” Hegseth said, citing pledges by Nato members to move toward Trump’s spending target of five per cent of GDP toward defence.
As Hegseth spoke in Singapore, China’s military announced that its navy and air force were carrying out routine “combat readiness patrols” around the Scarborough Shoal.
It is a chain of reefs and rocks that Beijing disputes with the Philippines.
Meanwhile, aerial photos showed two hulking H-6 bombers on an airfield on Woody Island in the South China Sea, taken on May 19.
The long-range aircraft date back to the 1950s and were modelled on Soviet-era warplanes.
But they’ve been souped up to unleash modern weapons, including hypersonic and nuclear missiles.
They are considered China’s most advanced bombers, and this is the first time they’ve been spotted on the outpost in five years.
The photos also show two Y-20 transport aircraft and a KJ-500 early warning plane around Woody Island on the same day.
The KJ-500 is thought vital to China’s expansion of its air and sea campaign, as it tackles increasingly complex operations.
Woody is part of the Paracel Islands, which are roughly halfway between China and Vietnam and the object of an ownership dispute between the two nations.
China built a city called Sansha on Woody Island in 2012, which Beijing uses to lord over the rest of the Paracels and the Spratly Islands.
Hegseth’s comments came after Trump stoked new trade tensions with China, arguing that Beijing had “violated” a deal to de-escalate tariffs as the two sides appeared deadlocked in negotiations.
Three ways China could seize Taiwan in ‘unstoppable’ attack
By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter
WITH an overwhelming military force, advanced warfare techniques and a fragmenting West, Xi Jinping will likely feel more confident than ever to seize Taiwan, experts warn.
And if China does decide to attack, it’s feared it will go in with “full force” using three major military strategies that would wreak havoc on the island.
Military experts have long believed China is planning to use sea blockades to cut off the island – forcing them to surrender when military supplies dwindle.
Currently, China has a whopping 2.1 million active soldiers and a further, 1.17 million reserve personnel in its army.
It is a stark contrast to Taiwan’s forces, which just has a little over 160,000 soldiers.
Others believe Beijing will pour its forces onto Taiwan’s “red beaches” and attack on land.
Experts told The Sun that China would likely combine blitzing aerial strikes to disable Taiwan’s defences with naval forces encircling the island.
Defence experts say it’s the “perfect moment” for Xi’s long-standing ambition to reunify Taiwan with the Chinese mainland – and it could launch an attack as soon as 2027.
The unpredictability of US foreign policy under Donald Trump has created fears that Chinese President Xi would use the opportunity to invade Taiwan.
Experts say the dictator is happy with a fragmenting West and the US saying it’s not interested in being the kind of security ally it was.
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Meanwhile, a report by the US Defence Intelligence warned that China could begin seizing Taiwan’s smaller outlying islands as a precursor to a full-blown invasion.
The vast majority of Taiwan’s population lives on the main island, but Taipei also controls a smattering of smaller island chains.
These include the Kinmen and Matsu islands close to the Chinese mainland, the Pratas and Taiping in the South China Sea, and the Penghu archipelago nearer to Taiwan.
Storming these islands is one of the options on the table for China’s military generals – who continue to brandish threats of a full-scale invasion of Taiwan.
Experts also told The Sun how China will look to exploit a fragmented West while it waits for the “perfect moment” to launch an attack on Taiwan.
Fears are that the weakening of Western alliances and the unpredictability of US foreign policy under Donald Trump could create the perfect atmosphere for Beijing to trigger an invasion.
And if China does decide to attack, it’s feared it will go in with “full force” using three major military strategies that would wreak havoc on the island.
Defence experts say it’s the “perfect moment” for Xi’s long-standing ambition to reunify Taiwan with the Chinese mainland – and it could launch an attack as soon as 2027.
And that the West will not be able to stop it.
A top US admiral warned that China will soon be able to defeat the US in a war over Taiwan.
Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Paparo, raised the alarm at the McCain Institute’s annual Sedona Forum in Arizona on Friday.
The admiral said that while the US would defeat China in a war over Taiwan now, it may soon lose its advantage, as reported by the Financial Times.
Paparo said: “The United States will prevail in the conflict as it stands now, with the force that we have right now.”
But he added: “Our trajectory on . . . really every force element that is salient is a bad trajectory.”
Why does China want to invade Taiwan?
TAIWAN insists it is an independent nation after splitting from mainland China amid civil war in 1949.
But China claims Taiwan remains a part of its territory with which it must eventually be reunified – and has not ruled out the use of force to take the island and place it under Beijing’s control.
The island, which is roughly 100 miles from the coast of south-east China, sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own constitution and democratically-elected leaders.
Taiwan sits in the so-called “first island chain”, which includes a list of US-friendly territories that are crucial to Washington’s foreign policy in the region.
This also puts it in an ideal situation to slow a Chinese attack on the West.
And with tensions between the two nations high, Taiwan is likely to aid China’s enemy if it means keeping its independence.
Taiwan’s economy is another factor in China’s desperation to reclaim the land.
If China takes the island, it could be freer to project power in the western Pacific and rival the US, thanks to much of the world’s electronics being made in Taiwan.
This would allow Beijing to have control over an industry that drives the global economy.
China insists that its intentions are peaceful, but President Xi Jinping has also used threats towards the small island nation.
