The US will build new long-range weapons in a hedge against potential rivals like China, the major power best-placed to challenge US supremacy, the Pentagon said in a new strategic blueprint on Friday.
The plan would also boost US special forces by 15 percent to fight terrorism, create a military task force to thwart transfers of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and expand psychological warfare capabilities.
The Pentagon released the congressionally mandated Quadrennial Defense Review to outline its strategy for meeting anticipated security threats in the next 20 years.
It said the choices of "major and emerging powers," including India, Russia and China, would be key to the 21st century's international security environment.
"Of the major and emerging powers, China has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States and field disruptive military technologies that could over time offset traditional US military advantages," the document said.
PRC CAPABILITIES
The report said China is likely to continue large investment in high-end, asymmetric military capabilities, emphasizing both electronic and cyber-warfare; counter-space operations; ballistic and cruise missiles; advanced integrated air defense systems; next-generation torpedoes; advanced submarines; strategic nuclear strike capabilities from modern, sophisticated land and sea-based systems; and theater unmanned aerial vehicles for employment by the Chinese military and for global export.
"The pace and scope of China's military build-up already puts [sic] regional military balances at risk," the report said.
It said the US would seek to encourage China to choose a path of peaceful economic growth and political liberalization, rather than military threat and intimidation.
But the US would defeat aggression if deterrence failed, the report said.
'GREAT DISTANCES'
Referring to China's large territory and a lack of US bases in the area, the Pentagon said it places a premium on "forces capable of sustained operations at great distances."
The blueprint, unveiled before tomorrow's delivery to Congress of a 2007 defense budget request of US$439.3 billion, recommended a new long-range strike capability to be fielded by 2018 and modernizing the current bomber force.
The capability could include manned or unmanned bombers as well as directed-energy weapons such as lasers. The Air Force Air Combat Command began a yearlong analysis of options for such a capability in October.
The plan called for increasing the number of aircraft carriers in the Pacific to five or six and maintaining 60 percent of Navy submarines there, while doubling to two the number of attack submarines bought annually by 2012.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS