Reserve service is missing 30 per cent of its equipment, with medical supplies and gear dropping 40 per cent below where they should be

Recently, Taiwan's deputy foreign minister Wu Chihchung concluded that China was preparing to invade Taiwan in an attempt to bring it under Chinese control.

“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement.

On an island in the Kinmen archipelago, in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwanese soldiers are marching through a dark tunnel. “The enemy is landing,” one of their number says. As they emerge onto a gloomy beach,

Will China invade Taiwan? If so, when and what signs should we look for that will show it is imminent? How exactly could Beijing seize the island? And what would the US do in response?

Gold rush in China after $1.4m worth of jewellery goes missing in flash floods Read more: China sends ships into Taiwan's territorial waters in latest provocation Conscription periods vary globally, with extreme cases like North Korea demanding up to a decade-long service from male military personnel,