China continued deploying more missiles across the Taiwan Strait over the past year in spite of a decline in tensions since the election of a new Taiwanese president, the Pentagon said yesterday.
In its annual report on the Chinese military, the Pentagon said China was “rapidly developing coercive capabilities” to deter Taiwan – which Beijing considers a renegade province – from seeking de jure independence.
“These same capabilities could in the future be used to pressure Taiwan toward a settlement of the cross-Strait dispute on Beijing's terms while simultaneously attempting to deter, delay, or deny any possible US support for the island in case of conflict,” the report said.