Leaving Taiwan in 2018 in a wheelchair due to a severe sprained ankle, what felt like deep sorrow engulfed me. I waxed silent and then began to gently weep as I was wheeled through the airport. I was speechless. Caught in a vision that I could not escape even though I didn’t want to see it.
The Lord showed me the enemy’s plans for death and destruction in Taiwan. I saw an army from mainland China invading the land in effort to bring Taiwan fully back into the Communist fold. It shook me to the point that I could not even speak when asked what the matter was. I could not shake the images of the army marching, the resistance from Taiwan and the bloodshed.
Currently, the threats from China on Taiwan are increasing. In fact, Taiwan's president and foreign minister both raised warnings on Tuesday of a hypothetical Chinese invasion of their island, according to CBS News. Some believe that could happen in a few years. Others say a few decades.
The new fervor over the Taiwan-China conflict comes in the wake of about 150 Chinese war planes flying over Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone. It wasn’t the first time this has happened, but it was the first time so many planes flew over at once.
“If Taiwan were to fall, the consequences would be catastrophic for regional peace and the democratic alliance system,” wrote President Tsai Ying-wen in Foreign Affairs. “It would signal that in today's global contest of values, authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy.”
You may be wondering what this is really about. Beijing claims Taiwan as a province of China. Taiwan was founded in 1912 under Japanese control. The Republic of China (ROC) started exercising jurisdiction over Taiwan after the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II in 1945.
“Unification is a key goal of the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, who has not ruled out taking Taiwan by force,” The Guardian reports. “Beijing regards Taiwan’s democratically elected government as separatists but the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, has said Taiwan is already a sovereign country with no need to declare independence.”
Indeed, military tensions with China are at their worst in more than 40 years, according to a Reuters report citing Taiwan’s defense minister. “For me as a military man, the urgency is right in front of me,” Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told a parliamentary committee reviewing an extramilitary spending plan worth T$240 billion ($8.6 billion) over the next five years for home-made weapons including missiles and warships.
According to Reuters, Chiu said China already has the ability to invade Taiwan and it will be capable of mounting a “full scale” invasion by 2025: “By 2025, China will bring the cost and attrition to its lowest. It has the capacity now, but it will not start a war easily, having to take many other things into consideration.”
We need to pray for Taiwan. The tensions between Taiwan and China are rising, and we've seen what China will do after the oppression in Hong Kong. Taiwan's military is literally doing exercises simulating fighting off Chinese armies.
Pray against a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Pray Taiwan maintains its democratic status.
Pray more missionaries will rise up and share the gospel.
Pray marketplace ministers would emerge to share the truth of Jesus in workplaces.
Pray dol worship, false regions and superstition will bow to the Lord.
Pray Bible studies strengthen and become church plants.
Pray for the protection of secret churches in Taiwan.
Pray for a spiritual awakening and transforming revival in Taiwan.
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