President-Heavy Price Would Be Paid For Invading Taiwan

Wires carrying comments from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen stating that a 'heavy price would be paid for invading or trying to invade Taiwan'.

• Tsai: ' An invasion of Taiwan would be strongly condemned by the international community'.
• Speaking earlier today to a visiting group of US academics, Tsai stated that 'Taiwan saw off China's military six decades ago when its forces bombarded offshore Taiwanese islands and that resolve to defend the homeland continues to this day'.
• Tensions between Taiwan and China remain at multi-decade highs following a series of visits by US politicians to Taiwan, met in response by Chinese military exercises around the island that some observers viewed as dry-runs for an invasion attempt.
• Mounting a full-scale invasion of Taiwan would likely prove a difficult task for the PLA, especially given the island's geographic features that limits the potential for landing on Taiwan's western beaches to just a handful of locations. A full military blockade could be the solution to avoiding mass casualties, but this would also risk a naval confrontation with the US and its allies in the Pacific.