The military balance in the Taiwan Strait continues to tilt in China's favor, with the pace of its missile deployment opposite Taiwan accelerating and an intensive effort by China that aims to prevent the US from coming to Taiwan's aid in the case of a Chinese attack, the Pentagon said in an annual report to the US Congress on Friday.
More than 900 short range ballistic missiles now face Taiwan and the number is increasing by more than 100 a year, the report, Military Power of the People's Republic of China 2007, calculates. That figure is up from an estimate of 710 to 790 such missiles contained in the Department of Defense's last report, which went to Congress last summer.
While last year's report pegged the missile buildup at "about" 100 a year, this year's puts it at "more than" that figure. The latest missile number was calculated last October, so the figure at present is likely to be much higher.
Over the past year, President Chen Shui-bian (
The annual report, mandated by Congress in a 2000 law, devoted several pages to Chinese efforts to prevent US forces from helping Taiwan fight off a Chinese attack, an area of concern that has occupied US military planners increasingly as PLA capacities have grown in recent years.
"In the near term, China is prioritizing measures to deter or counter third-party intervention in any future cross-strait crisis ... forces and operational concepts aimed at preventing an adversary from deploying military forces to forward operating locations," it said.
`Sustained effort'
The PLA "appears engaged in a sustained effort to develop the capability to interdict, at long ranges, aircraft carrier and expeditionary strike groups that might deploy in the western Pacific," it said.
"To prevent deployment of naval forces into Western Pacific waters, PLA planners are focused on targeting surface ships at long ranges ... to hold surface ships at risk through a layered defense" that would reach out beyond Guam, where the US is building up its main Pacific forces as it withdraws from Japanese bases, the report said.
Part of this would be an air defense component, using longer range surface-to-air missiles and the F-10, China's most advanced aircraft, and other advanced fighter jets.
Another aspect would be space warfare, as highlighted by the Chinese anti-satellite operation in January, in which a ground-based missile blew up an old weather satellite.
"China's space activities and capabilities, including anti-satellite programs, have significant implications for anti-access/area denial in Taiwan Strait contingencies and beyond," the Pentagon warned.
However, the Pentagon expressed confidence in the US ability to counter Beijing's efforts.
The US, "through the transformation of US armed forces and global force posture realignments, is maintaining the capability to resist any effort by Beijing to resort to force or coercion to dictate the terms of Taiwan's future status," the Pentagon said.
In its assessment of the Chinese threat to Taiwan, the report noted a number of important Chinese military advances over the past year that could boost its ability to attack Taiwan militarily and prevent or delay a US response in aid of Taiwan.
For example: China received its second Russian-made Sovremenny II guided missile destroyer, fitted with anti-ship cruise missiles and wide-area air defense systems, late last year.
It is building and testing second generation nuclear submarines, including ballistic missile subs and attack subs. Russia also delivered the last two of eight Kilo-class submarines equipped with supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles and sophisticated torpedoes.
Beijing's latest Luzhou class ships will be designed with surface-to-air missile systems that more than double the range of current PLA air defense systems.
China also began production of its first guided-missile frigate.
More than 700 Chinese combat aircraft are now within range of Taiwan without the need to refuel, and airport capacity can expand the number "significantly."
The Air Force is deploying the F-10 multi-role fighter to operational units. The F-10 will be "China's premier fighter in the coming decades."
Chinese aircraft are armed with "an increasingly sophisticated array of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, satellite and laser-guided precision munitions, and cruise missiles," the report said.
The PLA has deployed a new amphibious assault vehicle that "has greater stability and performance in open water. Increased amphibious training ... is building proficiency among China's amphibious forces," it said.
"China's military modernization and the deployment of advanced capabilities opposite the island have not eased, with the balance of forces continuing to shift in the mainland's favor," the report said. "Tensions could also increase as Taiwan prepares for its next presidential election."
The Pentagon takes some solace in the fact that Taipei appears ready to boost its defense spending after years of declining funding.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
RSS