Although Taiwan claims it is capable of defending itself, the military has been relying heavily on the US in crucial areas such as real-time information about Chinese troops, according to recently leaked information from a high-ranking military official.
The assistance, though not necessarily free, has been requested and granted according to a bilateral cooperation pattern developed between the US and Taiwan during the 1996 Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis, the official said.
Without the leaked information, Taiwan wouldn't have known where the launch site was for the four M-class missiles China fired into seas off Taiwan in March 1996. Neither would it have known precisely when they were launched and when they hit their target zones, the official said.
At that time, US air force E-8 or "Joint-Stars" reconnaissance aircraft were patrolling in the region, and provided information to Taiwan's military from shortly after the M-class missiles were launched until their impact in the sea.
Taiwan received the information via its US-made E-2T surveillance aircraft, which were in the air at the same time to relay data transmitted from the E-8 to ground radar stations in Taiwan.
It was the first time that Taiwan's E-2Ts had direct information exchanges with the the US E-8s in a war-like operation.
Before that, the E-2Ts were not able to share information with E-8s or other similar airborne reconnaissance platforms because they lacked required systems to support data links between the two aircraft.
Taiwan acquired the data link systems for the planes shortly before the 1996 missile crisis in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan took delivery of four E-2Ts from the US in 1995, ordering two more in 1999. One of the four E-2Ts was considerably damaged in 1997 because of the pilot's failure to lower the landing gear while landing the plane.
The acquisition of the E-2Ts dramatically boosted Taiwan's air defense capability, which was relatively weaker just half a year earlier when China launched a series of missile tests in the seas off Taiwan's northern-most territory of the Pengchiaoyu islet in July, 1995.
During the 1995 crisis, Taiwan also relied on the US for provision of real-time information about the missiles fired by China.
At that time, the US did not directly involve itself in the matter, asking Japan instead to do it on its behalf. Japan's maritime self-defense force then sent a number of vessels to the target zones announced by China in advance of its M-class missile tests.
"The Japanese troops involved in the exercise were taking grave risks. They could have been killed because China's M-class missiles were not very accurate at the time," a defense source said.
"But when the PLA launched another round of missile tests the following year [March 1996], they could accurately launch missiles into their announced impact zones," he said. "The key to the PLA's technology leapfrog in a matter of eight months was its acquisition of three US-made super-computers through Japan," he said.
"We have to thank Japan for providing us with first-hand missile test information during the 1995 Strait crisis. But we are not sure whether we appreciate its role in China's missile build-up."
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