Numerous security analysts have expressed concern about the campaign to reform Taiwan's military. To be sure, Taiwan's defense reforms are being accompanied by growing pains, but these difficulties should not be exaggerated.
Taiwan is making some headway in its drive to reorganize and restructure the national defense system, add more advanced weapons to the military's arsenal, downsize force levels, streamline its force structure and a series of other measures designed to create a small but elite armed forces. One of the chief objectives of the restructuring of the defense establishment is to reinforce the principle of civilian leadership and promote the nationalization of the armed forces. The reorganization program might be described as a success.
In the past, Taiwan made some unsound choices with respect to arms acquisitions, but it is inaccurate for critics to charge that Taiwan is hesitating to purchase arms because it hopes to be a "free rider."
A variety of considerations prompted Taiwan to postpone purchases of US submarines, warships and planes. As Taiwan is now a democracy, major arms purchases have to be approved by lawmakers, which can be a time-consuming process.
Moreover, defense issues -- particularly major arms acquisitions -- are now subject to widespread discussion and debate in Taiwanese society. This means that the media, interest groups and other actors may all play a role in the procurement process. In addition, the defense ministry must follow certain legal procedures when acquiring armaments and the procurement process is much more institutionalized and transparent.
An evaluation of a possible arms purchase could take more than 22 months. In addition to changes in the procurement process, the global economic slowdown has contributed to a slowdown in arms purchases. Further complicating things, spending on social programs is accelerating.
To state it succinctly, Taipei is experiencing real difficulties purchasing all the weapons that it hopes to add to its inventory due to budgetary constraints. Ironically, some of the present procurement problems may be traced to the past policies of the US.
During the early to mid-1990s, Taiwan sought to purchase a variety of expensive weapons platforms from the US. At the time, Taipei had the money to spend. Rather than sell submarines or other state-of-the-art weapons systems to Taiwan, however, Washington refused to sell the equipment or sold what one US Congressional study described derisively as "Model-Ts."
Consequently, Taiwanese lawmakers have argued that the US must share part of the blame for the growing military imbalance across the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan is making some progress in downsizing the military, strengthening its C4ISR (command, control, communication, computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) system and enabling the three military branches to function as a team.
US advisers are helping the military enhance its C4ISR system and Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems reportedly signed a deal to provide datalinks and other elements of an integrated C4ISR system to Taiwan in December.
It is clear that Taiwan is making some real headway in its campaign to reform its armed forces.
According to defense officials, during the next 10 years Taiwan's military will become an entirely new force. Despite this progress, however, it is true that Taiwan's military also continues to confront significant challenges.
It must overcome these obsta-
cles to be prepared to counter China's military build-up and its increasingly hostile posture toward Taiwan.
Dennis Hickey is professor of political science and university fellow in research at Southwest Missouri State University.
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