China has vowed to unify with Taiwan, which it considers its territory, though the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled there. Beijing, in recent years, ramped up military activitiesaround Taiwan to punish the island's Beijing-skeptic ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
U.S. officials believe Chinese leader Xi Jinping has instructed the People's Liberation Army to be capable of taking Taiwan by 2027, even if he does not necessarily intend to give the order that year. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others in President Donald Trump's administration have stressed deterring China means making an invasion as costly as possible.
