China described the situation in the Taiwan Strait in 2022 as “serious” and “complex” and said that Beijing “took the initiative” to “unite compatriots” on both sides of the straitthe state-run CCTV chain gathered today.

The August 2022 visit to the territory by then Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi angered the Chinese government, which responded with economic sanctions and military maneuvers in waters surrounding Taiwan, moves that have been described by Taipei as “one block” and which has raised the tension in the strait to unprecedented levels for decades.

“We have taken a number of strong measures to crush all forms of provocation“, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (Chinese Executive) Ma Xiaoguang said Wednesday, who added that “separatist activities” and “interference by foreign forces” seriously endanger the fundamental interests of the nation of China”.

“In the new year, the strategy for resolving the Taiwan issue will be to adhere to the principle of peaceful reunionMa explained, noting that Taiwan’s “strategy of relying on foreign countries to achieve independence” is “doomed to fail”after an increase in visits to the island by lawmakers and political representatives from many countries last year.

The spokesman asked to “explore new ways for the integration” of the areas located in the Taiwan Strait and to “support” the island’s entrepreneurs so that they “adhere to a new development model”, adding that the majority of public opinion Taiwanese “seeks peace, stability and development”.

On December 26, Taipei denounced the presence of 71 Chinese aircraft in the vicinity of the island, in an unprecedented air deployment around Taiwan.

Beijing thus responded to last month’s approval by the United States Congress of the so-called National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which provides for a spending of 858,000 million dollars on defense, energy and national security which includes military aid to Taiwan.

Taipei recently announced that it will extend from 2024 compulsory military service for menwhich is currently four months, up to a year,”before the rise of Chinese authoritarianism“explained the president, Tsai Ing-wen.

Taiwan has been considered a sovereign territory with its own government and political system under the name of the Republic of China since the end of the civil war between nationalists and communists in 1949, but Beijing claims it is a rebel province and insists it return to what it used to call common homeland.

The island is also a major source of conflict between China and the United States, especially since Washington is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and would be its biggest military ally in the event of a possible war with Beijing.

In the US they say a Chinese invasion would fail

China would likely fail in its attempt to invade Taiwan if the United States were to defend the island, a US think tank said on Monday, even if the conflict would mean heavy casualties for US forces.

The military experts, gathered for the war simulation by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, stressed that any side directly involved in a conflict of this magnitude – the United States, China, Taiwan, Japan – would suffer “enormous” losses.

“In most cases it is unlikely that China will succeed and achieve its operational objectives” or succeed in “occupying Taipei”, the capital of Taiwan, concluded Eric Heginbotham, a security expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The simulation tested 24 different scenarios, each involving China’s attempts to forcibly seize Taiwan by 2026.

According to projections, without US help the island – which has an autonomous government, but which China claims as part of its territory – would fall in a maximum of three months, amidst bombings and land invasions.

However, “the cost of the war would be high for all involved, and certainly for the United States,” added Heginbotham.