Reports, and digital photos, getting out of China via the Internet, indicate that the modernization of the Chinese armed forces is some two years ahead of the schedules cited by most Western experts. New aircraft, ships and tanks are showing up sooner than expected, and China is spending money on more training for pilots and ship crews. Not as much training as Western forces, but more than in the past for China.
Have I mentioned that the Peking Olympics would be great cover for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan? Who would think that the Chinese would forfeit the hosting of the Olympics? I mean, in exchange for a pageant (that didn't do the Soviet Union much good after 1980), the Chinese could gain strategic surprise to capture the object that their very legitimacy revolves around.
That's in 2008. Three years away.
The Taiwanese need a sense of urgency. China apparently does.
