China wishes to become an oceanic power with the capacity to project control over the South China Sea and the waters around Taiwan. Some analysts also believe that China wants to fill the vacuum the US is leaving as it continues to withdraw from East Asia.
For China this requires a large and powerful naval force. Tai-wan's reaction to this strategy is defense. Ironically, both nations have resorted to matching their warships tonnage for tonnage to reach their objectives. China has two 7,940-tonne Sovremenny-class destroyers and Taiwan has been offered four 9,900-tonne Kidd-class destroyers.
Taiwan's interest in the Kidd-class has opened a debate between two schools of thought on naval defense. The first seeks to have a "big and bad" navy made up of large destroyers like the Kidd and Arleigh Burke. This navy would counter China's two destroyers, over 40 submarines and plans for the acquisition of aircraft carriers.
The Kidd is one of the few warships capable of operating so quietly that it can hunt submarines. Its anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities are unique and make it one of the most feared and powerful warships. A "big and bad" navy made up of four such destroyers would immediately challenge China's Sovremenny-class destroyers.
During the Cold War many naval analysts compared the two types of destroyers in hairy apocalyptic scenarios. The two classes quickly became rivals on the high seas. One of the Kidds, the USS Callaghan, was deployed to Taiwan during the 1996 Strait crisis.
But Taiwan might have problems with the Kidds' size. They are twice as big as anything currently in the navy. Their 10m draft will necessitate expansion operations at Tsoying Naval Base and modifications of other ports. With Taiwan's financial downturn, many are expressing reservations over the Kidd's enormous maintenance and manpower costs. Taiwan is expected to make a final decision on the Kidd sale within three months.
Taiwan's dreams of buying an AEGIS-equipped Arleigh Burke might have to be permanently shelved. The US has never sold an Arleigh Burke to any nation and the ships are extremely expensive. The US has sold the AEGIS Combat System to Japan, Spain and Norway, which de-signed platforms to accommodate AEGIS. If Taiwan wants the AEGIS, it will have to design a platform that can house it, and then convince the US to sell the system.
The second school seeks to have a "lean and mean" navy made up of more agile frigates, fast attack boats and submarines that require less manpower and maintenance, and heavily armed with anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons that could cripple an invading fleet. Taiwan has just finalized plans to begin building 30 150-tonne stealth guided-missile boats. The navy plans to arm them with Hsiung Feng 2 (Brave Wind) anti-ship missiles and later with Hsiung Feng 3 which have land attack capabilities. It is also building its eighth Cheng-kung-class (Perry-class) frigate, dubbed Tien Tan, which has proven itself very capable.
Most navies prefer ambush as the strategy of engagement. The "lean and mean" navy would be harder to locate and destroy. Fast attack patrol boats, frigates, and submarines would be a major annoyance to China during a war.
Both schools of thought require submarines. The eight diesel submarines the US has offered are needed to defend the Kidds and can also be used for lone-wolf operations. The type of navy Taiwan needs to defend against an invasion by China is debatable. Both schools of thought are valid, but Taiwan cannot do both. It does not have the manpower or the money to do so.
Wendell Minnick is the Taiwan correspondent for Jane's Defence Weekly. His email address is wminnick@hotmail.com
China has not been a top-tier issue for much of the second Trump administration. Instead, Trump has focused considerable energy on Ukraine, Israel, Iran, and defending America’s borders. At home, Trump has been busy passing an overhaul to America’s tax system, deporting unlawful immigrants, and targeting his political enemies. More recently, he has been consumed by the fallout of a political scandal involving his past relationship with a disgraced sex offender. When the administration has focused on China, there has not been a consistent throughline in its approach or its public statements. This lack of overarching narrative likely reflects a combination
Father’s Day, as celebrated around the world, has its roots in the early 20th century US. In 1910, the state of Washington marked the world’s first official Father’s Day. Later, in 1972, then-US president Richard Nixon signed a proclamation establishing the third Sunday of June as a national holiday honoring fathers. Many countries have since followed suit, adopting the same date. In Taiwan, the celebration takes a different form — both in timing and meaning. Taiwan’s Father’s Day falls on Aug. 8, a date chosen not for historical events, but for the beauty of language. In Mandarin, “eight eight” is pronounced
US President Donald Trump’s alleged request that Taiwanese President William Lai (賴清德) not stop in New York while traveling to three of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, after his administration also rescheduled a visit to Washington by the minister of national defense, sets an unwise precedent and risks locking the US into a trajectory of either direct conflict with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or capitulation to it over Taiwan. Taiwanese authorities have said that no plans to request a stopover in the US had been submitted to Washington, but Trump shared a direct call with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平)
It is difficult to think of an issue that has monopolized political commentary as intensely as the recall movement and the autopsy of the July 26 failures. These commentaries have come from diverse sources within Taiwan and abroad, from local Taiwanese members of the public and academics, foreign academics resident in Taiwan, and overseas Taiwanese working in US universities. There is a lack of consensus that Taiwan’s democracy is either dying in ashes or has become a phoenix rising from the ashes, nurtured into existence by civic groups and rational voters. There are narratives of extreme polarization and an alarming
RSS