A US Department of Defense report on the Chinese military released on Monday briefly criticized Taiwan’s defense spending and its transition to voluntary military service.
The report, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013, said that as the Taiwanese government shifts to a national volunteer force, the freed-up savings and resources are being used for personnel salaries and benefits, but it is “diverting funds from foreign and indigenous [weapons] acquisition programs.”
It said the program did not meet is objective, with a total of 235,000 people inducted into military service in recent years, far below the target of 270,000.
“Taiwan’s military spending has dropped to approximately 2 percent of GDP — well below President Ma’s [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] pledge of 3 percent,” the report said, adding that China’s defense budget is 10 times that of Taiwan.
The annual report to the US Congress covers China’s security and military strategies, as well as the security situation in the Taiwan Strait.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Helvey briefed journalists on the report at a press conference at the Pentagon on Monday.
“Over the past year, cross-strait relations have improved. However, China’s military buildup shows no signs of slowing,” Helvey said, adding that China has more than 1,100 short and medium-range ballistic missiles directed at Taiwan.
The range and capability of the missiles are being enhanced, and China is modernizing its conventional and precision-attack weapons deployed against Taiwan, Helvey said.
“China’s overall strategy [toward Taiwan] continues to incorporate elements of persuasion and coercion to deter or repress the development of political attitudes in Taiwan favoring independence,” he said, quoting the report.
“Dealing with a potential contingency in the Taiwan Strait remains the PLA’s [People’s Liberation Army] primary mission ... In this context, should deterrence fail, the PLA would be called upon to compel Taiwan to abandon independence, or to re-unify [sic] with the mainland by force of arms, while defeating any third-party intervention on Taiwan’s behalf,” he said.
The report indicated that the PLA’s ability to attack Taiwan is improving each year, as currently China is unable to totally cut off Taiwan through a maritime blockade.
However, this capability will be substantially improved over the next five to 10 years, he said.
The US Department of Defense added that the PLA’s modernization is based on preparations for a Taiwan conflict with the possibility of US intervention, and that the “Taiwan military’s technological superiority, and the inherent geographic advantages of island defense” are gradually eroding.
The PLA Air Force “has stationed a large number of advanced aircraft within an unrefueled range of Taiwan, providing them with a significant capability to conduct air superiority and ground attack operations against Taiwan,” and “a number of long-range air defense systems provide a strong layer of defense of China’s mainland against a counterattack,” the report said.
“China’s development of support aircraft provide it improved ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] to support PLA Air Force operations in a contingency,” the report said.
In addition, the PLA Navy has developed “a credible at-sea nuclear deterrent, and introducing new platforms that are positioned to strike Taiwan in a cross-Strait conflict” and its new weapons “are designed to achieve sea superiority within the first island chain and counter any third party intervention in a Taiwan conflict,” the report said.
The report’s conclusion said that although progress is being made on cross-strait dialogue, the Taiwanese government and much of the public are not supportive of direct negotiations on issues of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
‘NO EQUILIBRIUM’: Taiwan’s increased defense spending is a good step, but it needs to do more to have the ability to deter aggression from China, a senior US official said The US plans to sell as many as seven major weapons systems — including mines, cruise missiles and drones — to Taiwan, four people familiar with the discussions said. Pursuing seven sales at once is a rare departure from years of precedent in which US military sales to Taiwan were spaced out and carefully calibrated to minimize tensions with Beijing. However, US President Donald Trump’s administration has this year become more aggressive with China, and the sales would land as relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest point in decades over accusations of spying, lingering trade tensions, disputes about the
ON THEIR OWN: The KMT has decided not to participate as a party at this year’s forum, and if any members do go, they would not be representing the party, Alicia Wang said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday announced that it would not send a delegation “as a political party” to this year’s Straits Forum, after a Chinese TV program described the planned visit to the annual meeting as “suing for peace.” The 12th forum is scheduled to open in Xiamen, China, on Saturday. On Tuesday last week, the KMT announced that former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) would lead the party’s delegation to the forum, with KMT Secretary-General Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) as deputy head. However, on Thursday last week, China Central Television’s (CCTV) Yangshipin (央視頻) program, hosted by Li Hong (李紅), included a headline
RIVERSIDE CAMP: As rescuers continued their search for a missing man, Taipower said that the floodgates at a hydro plant on the Lishi Creek opened due to a malfunction Three people have been confirmed dead and one was missing after being swept away by a flash flood while camping in Nantou County’s Renai Township (仁愛), police said yesterday. Six people from two families were camping near Lishi Creek (栗栖溪) when the riverbanks were suddenly flooded just after 4am, carrying away four of the campers — including two children — who were asleep in their tents, police said. A man who was among those swept away was able to climb ashore and call for help, police said, adding that another man had gone missing in the turmoil at the campsite.
WORKING OVERTIME? NTU professor Lee Duu-jong denied that he had held a part-time position at a Chinese university or joined China’s Thousand Talents Program A candidate for the post of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) president yesterday dropped out of the race following a report questioning his links to Chinese academia and government programs. Lee Duu-jong (李篤中), a professor at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) chemical engineering department, was a member of China’s Changjiang Scholars’ Program in 2006 and was on the list of its Thousand Talents Program in 2017, a report by Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine said yesterday. The article said that Lee is suspected of having held a part-time job at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China and was the recipient
RSS