A defense white paper approved by the Japanese Cabinet on Tuesday said that Taiwan was falling behind China in modernization of weapons systems and budget allocations for defense spending.
The overall military balance was shifting in favor of China and the gap was growing wider, the paper said, adding that US arms sales to Taiwan and self-developed weapon programs might be the key to restoring the equilibrium.
Thirty-four pages were about China, including reports on Chinese naval activity expanding to the entire Asia-Pacific region, including Japan.
The potential effects of this on international security are extremely concerning, the paper said.
As of 2014, Taiwan had 215,000 combat-ready military personnel, but the nation’s policy favoring an all-volunteer military could see that number fall to 170,000 to 190,000 by 2019, which would require the adoption of cutting-edge technology and implementation of coordinated combat exercises between the branches of the armed forces, the paper said.
The Republic of China (ROC) Army fields 140,000 troops, including the Marine Corps, although it can mobilize up to 1.66 million, it said.
The ROC Navy has Keelung-class destroyers and other more modernized platforms, while the ROC Air Force has a fleet of F-16A/B jets, Mirage 2000s and the self-produced Indigenous Defense Fighter, the paper said.
Taiwan has Skybow II surface-to-air missiles, Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles, Hsiung Feng II-E cruise missiles and so-called “aircraft carrier killer” supersonic Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles, it said.
While Taiwan has introduced high-speed stealth missile boats, the increasing capabilities of the Chinese missile arsenal, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy and the PLA Air Force spell “problems for Taiwan’s weapons modernization,” it said.
Taiwan’s defense budget has not increased in nearly two decades, while China’s “public” defense budget last year was 15 times that of Taiwan’s, it said. Chinese defense spending this year was the equivalent of ￥1.4 trillion (US$12.8 billion), an increase of 7.1 percent from last year.
Compared with defense spending in 1988, China’s defense budget has increased 49-fold, it said, adding that its published budget was only “a portion” of its actual expenditure.
The PLA has overwhelming forces compared with Taiwan, but despite the large number of amphibious landing ships it possesses, its capability to conduct an amphibious landing in Taiwan remains limited, the paper said.
China has the superior numbers, and despite Taiwan’s edge in quality of troops and equipment, “the quality gap is rapidly closing,” it said.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
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