China does not have the capacity to launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan because it does not have the necessary equipment, but it is deploying new advanced weapons and has other options to threaten Taiwan, such as inspecting foreign cargo ships, the island's Defense Ministry said, as quoted by Reuters.
China considers democratically-ruled Taiwan its territory and has stepped up military and political pressure over the past five years to assert its claim, which the island strongly rejects.
Beijing has never ruled out using force to establish control over Taiwan.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war against Mao Zedong's Communists. A peace treaty or armistice was never signed.
In an annual China threat assessment report sent to lawmakers today, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said Beijing continues to work on its military capabilities by conducting joint command operations.
"However, the use of tactics and strategies against Taiwan is still limited by the natural geographical environment of the Taiwan Strait and insufficient land equipment and logistics capabilities," the ministry said.
China "does not yet have the combat capabilities for an all-out invasion of Taiwan," the report added.
However, China is accelerating the development of a number of new weapons, such as the H-20 strategic bomber and hypersonic missiles, as well as increasing the number of nuclear warheads as it considers new strategies, the ministry noted.
The document said that in May, when China conducted military maneuvers around Taiwan shortly after new Taiwanese President William Lai came to power, Chinese coast guard ships were first dispatched to the east coast exercise for interception and inspection. .
The aim of the Chinese drills was to practice the cut off of communication with the outside world and the blockade of Taiwan, and the decision on foreign cargo ships is an option that China could take advantage of if it does not lead to an open conflict, the ministry said .
The waters around Taiwan, including the Taiwan Strait, are busy international shipping routes.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense has not yet responded to Reuters' request for comment.
During a briefing in Beijing today, the ministry said that as long as the island's ruling Democratic Progressive Party is "engaged in efforts for Taiwan independence, no peace will be achieved.
"The more they provoke, the faster they will die," spokesman Wu Qiang told reporters.
Taiwan's proposed defense spending will increase faster than expected economic growth next year as Taipei builds more missiles, submarines and other weapons to deter China.
President Lai, who China says is a "separatist," has repeatedly offered to hold talks with Beijing, but his offers have been rejected. According to him, only the people of Taiwan can decide what their future will be.
"Peace achieved through force is true peace," Lai told military personnel from the Ministry of Defense today.
"We will continue to improve our self-defense capacity and show the world that we are a united nation and we are determined to defend our country," he said.