The report notes that although Taiwan wants to buy 66 F-16C/D fighters from the US, “it is unclear whether the Obama administration will agree to sell these or other modern aircraft to Taiwan.”
The report says the central focus of China’s naval modernization efforts since the 1990s has been to deter Taiwanese independence.
“Taiwan’s independence ultimately challenges the Chinese Communist Party’s [CCP] continued rule in Beijing, because the CCP has partially staked its legitimacy on reunification with Taiwan,” the report says.
Taiwan’s continued de facto independence, the report says, hinders China’s emergence as a regional power since it would limit the PLA’s strategic space.
“For Beijing, a key component of ensuring that Taiwan does not declare independence requires deterring, denying or delaying the United States from intervening on Taiwan’s behalf,” the report concludes.
“Rear Admiral Michael McDevitt testified to the commission that China aims to keep an approaching force from closing to within striking range of the Chinese mainland and the Taiwan Strait — a sentiment echoed by several experts,” it says.
“Cortez Cooper, a senior international policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, stated that a goal of China’s naval modernization is to vastly improve the capability to hold US naval formations at risk in the Western Pacific and to delay or deny their entry into a Taiwan theater of operations,” it says.
RSS