China’s might is forcing Taiwan to rethink its military strategy

TAIWAN “MUST and will” be reunited with the mainland, declared Xi Jinping, China’s president, on January 2nd. Chinese leaders have been saying such things since the retreating Nationalists separated the island from the rest of the country after losing the civil war to the Communists in 1949. But Mr Xi has done more than just talk: he has sent bombers and warships to circle the island, held live-fire drills in the narrow Taiwan Strait and, Taiwanese generals say, instructed the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to be capable of seizing Taiwan by force by next year. Back in 1996, the most recent cross-strait crisis, China’s military spending was barely twice Taiwan’s. Now it is 15 times greater. That has left Taiwanese leaders rushing to rethink their defences.