Taiwan's Air Force has had to cancel its military drills off the Island democracy's coast earlier this week because of an approaching typhoon, but naval and land exercises were set to continue in other parts of Taiwan that China threatens to invade.
Gordon Chang, an author and Asian policy analyst, says the Chinese military is not equipped for an all-out invasion of the island.
"If we're talking about a conventional conflict, the Chinese military realizes it would sustain massive casualties," he offers. "China could take Taiwan without any casualties at all; it could use its nuclear weapons."
But considering the Chinese military's continued purging, Chang says it is not exactly ready to fight, so he does not think they are contemplating that.
Additionally, there are political considerations.
"What we're seeing right now are signs of instability inside the regime itself," he observes. "We don't know exactly what's going on, because the regime has become even more opaque in recent years … so, my sense is that the incentives to go to war are mainly internal, and the external considerations, I think, are of secondary importance to Xi Jinping"
Chang adds that it is highly unlikely China would invade Taiwan before the U.S. presidential election.
