The growth of China’s military capabilities is specifically oriented toward countering the US’ ability to assist in the defense of Taiwan, a new Heritage Foundation report says.
“China’s ability to execute a military action against Taiwan, albeit at high economic and political cost, is improving,” the 2016 Index of US Military Strength said, which was published on Wednesday.
According to the annual Index, two of the US’ four military branches have declined over the past year and the others were rated only “marginal” in their ability to protect US interests.
It said that growing US weakness, coupled with increasing strength and aggressiveness from North Korea, Russia and China “make for a growing and dangerous instability in regions throughout the world.”
“Threats against American interests are stronger and more numerous that a year ago,” senior Index editor Dakota Wood said.
“Key regions are more unstable and our military capabilities have weakened further. These are very disturbing trends,” Wood said.
The Index says that China’s long-standing threat to end de facto independence in Taiwan — if necessary by force — is both a threat to a major US security partner and a threat to peace and stability in the western Pacific.
China continues to employ political warfare against the Taiwan’s political and military leadership, the Index said.
“For the Chinese leadership, the failure to effect unification, whether peacefully or through the use of force, would reflect fundamental political weakness,” the Index said.
“There is no realistic means by which any Chinese leadership can back away from the stance of having to unify the island with the mainland,” it said.
As a result, Taiwan remains an essential part of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) new historic mission, shaping acquisitions and military planning.
The Index said that Beijing’s anti-access area-denial strategy is aimed largely at forestalling US intervention in support of Taiwan.
By holding at risk key US platforms — particularly aircraft carriers — Beijing seeks to delay or even deter US intervention in support of Taiwan allowing China to achieve a fait accompli.
The Index said the Chinese threat to Taiwan is “never off the table.”
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
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More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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