Navy’s Top Officer: China Could Invade Taiwan By End Of Year

China could invade Taiwan by the end of this year, much sooner than the previous predictions of a 2027 attack, the Navy’s top officer said this week.

“It’s not just what [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] says, it’s how the Chinese behave and what they do. And what we’ve seen over the past 20 years is that they have delivered on every promise they’ve made earlier than they said they were going to deliver on it,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said during an event held by the Atlantic Council.

Gilday continued, “So when we talk about the 2027 window” for an invasion of Taiwan, referencing a previous prediction made by Adm. Phil Davidson last year, “in my mind, that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window.”

Gilday’s prediction comes days after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s warned that China would never renounce the right to use force to unify with Taiwan.

“Resolving the Taiwan issue is the Chinese people’s own business, and it up to the Chinese people to decide,” Xi said on Sunday. “We insist on striving for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and best efforts, but we will never promise to give up the use of force and reserve the option to take all necessary measures.”

“The historical wheels of national reunification and national rejuvenation are rolling forward, and the complete reunification of the motherland must be achieved, and it must be achieved!” he added.

“Achieving the goal of a hundred-year struggle to build an army within the scheduled time frame and accelerate the transformation of the People’s Liberation Army of China is a strategic requirement for the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist state,” Xi said.

Gilday said that ongoing events like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rapid Chinese military progress indicate that China could invade Taiwan at anytime.

“I can’t rule that out — I don’t mean at all to be alarmist by saying that; it’s just said we can’t wish that away,” he said. “…Combatant commanders have talked about different timeframes, but it’s a very real thing.”