Taiwan’s defense ministry has published a report on China’s military power. According to the report, China’s defense budget for 2015 is second highest in the world, at 911.4 billion yen. Only the United States has budgeted more for defense this year.
China’s military budget this year is 10% higher than it was last year. On paper, it accounts for 1.34% of the nation’s GDP. However, the report said that if you include other “hidden items,” that figure could be as much as 4% of its GDP. It said that will contribute to an even greater imbalance of military power between Taiwan and China.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said in the report that China could launch an attack on Taiwan if Taiwan were to declare or move toward formal independence. Other scenarios that could prompt China to invade include Taiwan’s political instability or possession of nuclear weapons, foreign intervention, and the postponement of “peaceful unification talks” between Taipei and Beijing.
The defense ministry report said that warming cross-strait ties have not changed China’s tactics of “using force to press unification“. It also said that China’s move to reclaim land in the South China Sea is for strategic purposes.