Taiwan

Year 2024 will be no different, as many top US generals and experts have warned that the Chinese invasion could take place in 2024, or any time after till 2027.

Lai arrived in New York on Saturday en route to Paraguay, Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in South America, where he is scheduled to attend inauguration of Paraguayan President Santiago Pena on August 15, CNN reported. 

The documents also said Taiwan feared moving its aircraft to shelters could take up to a week, leaving them vulnerable to missile strikes, and that China's use of civilian ships for military purposes was hampering US intelligence's ability to predict an invasion, The Guardian reported.

General Mike Minihan, who heads the Air Mobility Command, wrote in an internal memo that he believes Chinese President Xi Jinping could invade Taiwan in 2024 as both the US and Taiwan will be distracted by their respective presidential elections. And the US will, he did not say explicitly in reports on the leaked memo, be drawn into the conflict.

The drills were launched in retaliation to Taiwan's President, Tsai Ing-wen, travelling to the US and meeting the US House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, The Guardian reported. Beijing, which claims Taiwan as a province despite that being rejected by its government and people, declared the meeting a provocation by Taiwan "separatists", enabled by the US.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it was monitoring the movements of China's missile forces, as the US said it too was on alert, The Guardian reported. China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent 58 war planes, including fighter jets, reconnaissance planes, and refuellers, into Taiwan's air defence identification zone.

The People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Eastern Theater Command announced the drills Saturday, describing them as "a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces' collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity", reports CNN.