China could seize Taiwan’s smaller outlying islands as a tactic to intimidate the government in Taipei, a US intelligence report has warned.
Though the vast majority of its population lives on the main island of Taiwan, Taipei also controls a number of smaller island chains including the Kinmen and Matsu close to the Chinese mainland, the Pratas and Taiping in the South China Sea and the Penghu archipelago off Taiwan’s southeastern coast.
Seizing and attempting to annex these islands is among a number of military options available to Beijing as it continues to threaten Taiwan with a wholesale invasion, according to the latest Worldwide Threat Assessment report released earlier this month by the US Defence Intelligence Agency.
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