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Military power of China & Taiwan

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China vs Taiwan

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China Taiwan

China is a country located in Eastern Asia with an area of 9,596,961 km2 (land boundries: 22,457 km and costline 14,500 km). The capital of China is Beijing. The number of inhabitants is 1,444,390,177.

The People's Liberation Army is the military arm of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which oversees the PLA through its Central Military Commission. The PLA is outfitted primarily with a wide mix of older and modern domestically-produced systems heavily influenced by technology derived from other countries. Russia is the main supplier military equipment outside the domestic industry.

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Taiwan is a country located in Eastern Asia with an area of 36,193 km2 (land boundries: 0 km and costline 1,566.3 km). The capital of Taiwan is Taipei. The number of inhabitants is 23,568,378.

The Taiwan military is armed mostly with second-hand weapons and equipment provided by the USA. Taiwan also has a domestic defense industry capable of building a range of military equipment.

More about Taiwan military

If you want to check the comparison in terms of economic ratios check out China - Taiwan

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 408 billion $ 19.1 billion $
Percent of GDP: 1.7% 2.3%

Military budget

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Highest value in the world: 916 billion $ (USA)
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Manpower

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Active personnel: 2,035,000 180,000
Reserve personnel: 2,000,000 1,657,000
Available for military: 385,821,101 5,883,828

Active

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Highest value in the world: 2,035,000 (China)
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Land Forces

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Tanks: 5,750 1,160
Armoured fighting vehicles: 14,130 1,714
Total artillery: 7,094 1,944
Self-propelled artillery: 2,720 440
Rocket artillery: 3,140 126

Tanks

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Highest value in the world: 12,267 (Russia)
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Air Forces

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Total aircraft: 4,630 814
Fighter aircraft: 1,049 129
Multirole aircraft: 1,130 189
Attack aircraft: 120 0
Helicopters: 1,355 237
UCAV (combat drone): 151 0

Total aircraft

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Highest value in the world: 13,175 (USA)
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Navy

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Total naval: 742 96
Aircraftcarriers: 4 0
Destroyers: 38 4
Frigates: 54 22
Corvettes: 73 1
Submarines: 74 4

Total naval

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Highest value in the world: 967 (North Korea)
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Nuclear weapons

China

The last of five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT, which at this moment possesses approximately 280 nuclear warheads in total. Nevertheless, the number of deployed bombs is unknown. The first test that occurred to be successful occurred in 1964. The main goal of Chinese was to build a deterrent against two major nuclear powers, namely The United States as well as The Soviet Union. The nation decided to choose dried lake for the nuclear site, Lop Nur. Although China developed and tested its first atomic device only in 1964, they managed to test their first hydrogen bomb only 32 months later. As a result, they can boast with the shortest period between developing fission and fusion technology.

China managed to conduct 45 tests of nuclear weapons. Still, the data regarding the stockpile of accumulated warheads is uncertain. The same thing concerns the number of deployed warheads. It is all due to the limited information that the country provides. We should also bear in mind that they are the only country out of five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT that does not give a positive security assurance.

Taiwan

Does not have nuclear weapons.

Military service

China

18-24 years of age for selective compulsory military service, with a 2-year service obligation; no minimum age for voluntary service (all officers are volunteers); 18-19 years of age for women high school graduates who meet requirements for specific military jobs; a recent military decision allows women in combat roles.

Taiwan

Males 18-36 years of age may volunteer for military service or must complete 4 months of compulsory military training (or substitute civil service in some cases); women may enlist; women in Air Force service are restricted to noncombat roles; for men born before December 1993, compulsory service (military or civil) is 1 year; for 8 years after discharge, men are subject to training recall four times for periods not to exceed 20 days.