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Military power of Taiwan & China

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Taiwan vs China

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Taiwan China

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

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.

More about China military

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

Military expenditures

small flag TW
small flag CN

Military budget

+
19.1 billion $
408 billion $

Percent of GDP

+
2.3 %
1.7 %

Manpower

small flag TW
small flag CN

Active personnel

+
180,000
2,035,000

Reserve personnel

+
1,657,000
2,000,000

Available for military

+
5,883,828
385,821,101

Land Forces

small flag TW
small flag CN
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Tanks

+
1,160
5,750
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Armoured fighting vehicles

+
1,714
14,130
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Total artillery

+
1,944
7,094
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Self-propelled artillery

+
440
2,720
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Rocket artillery

+
126
3,140

Air Forces

small flag TW
small flag CN
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Total aircraft

+
814
4,630
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Fighter

+
129
1,049
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Multirole

+
189
1,130
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Attack

+
0
120
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Helicopters

+
237
1,355
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UCAV (combat drone)

+
0
151

Navy

small flag TW
small flag CN
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Total naval

+
96
742
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Aircraft carriers

+
0
4
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Destroyers

+
4
38
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Frigates

+
22
54
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Corvettes

+
1
73
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Submarines

+
4
74

Nuclear weapons

Taiwan

Does not have 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.

Military service

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.

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.