China can defeat Taiwan
But it will never occupy it.
Taiwan is like US a very free society. Once China puts soldiers on ground, they will get massacred.
These idiots could not defeat Vietnam, you think they can occupy Taiwan?!
They will get air superiority & Sea as well.
But that is not same as occupying Taiwan.
PLA is adopting non-contract conflict strategies. Using long range artillery and missile to flatten and weaken key command centres, both in the frontlines and at the top. Before sending in foot soldiers to land at Taiwanese beaches, that is.
All Chinese missiles from Southeast China can strike all of Taiwan. Assuming that the Taiwanese have built a bunker system like the Swiss, there is a small chance that their government might survive the strike.
Look at this simple report:
Taiwan is an advanced economy and the people there have become like Japan. They see everything through commercial lenses and would rather run away to USA than to sit down and fight back once PLA takes control of their island.
Sure a few thousands will mount a stiff resistance, but for how long? Taiwan is not like Israel. Israel has its culture, faith & civilization at stake which is what keeps them always on the edge. Meanwhile Taiwanese today are banana Asians (yellow on the outside, white on the inside).
Vietnamese are in a different league altogether. They have a history of destroying superpowers whenever they were pushed on the edge. The Mongols, the Indonesians, the Chinese, the Americans, the French, the Japanese.... nothing has held onto them except us (that too culturally, not militarily). Vietnamese are even more hardened than we are. Their politicians have risen from ground-up and not through a colonial system, but a customized communist system suited to their mindset. The only thing they lack is strategic depth and weapons. If today the NATO decides to open the weapons tap without any restrictions for Vietnam, it would rip the CCP into pieces and leave them licking wounds.
Please don't compare the two.