Recently I have been watching news and political talk shows on local TV. Often I see people calling themselves military experts accusing the Taiwanese government of spending too much money on the military budget. I believe that these so-called "experts" are not even focusing on the real problem. The real problem is "are the weapons suitable for Taiwan?"
I would like to illustrate the problem using a story.
Once upon a time, deep in a forest far far away, the lion was the king of all the animals. One day, there was a competition held in the forest. The lion decided to send out his best team in order to win, so he selected the eagle to compete in the flying marathon, the tiger to join the running race and the shark to participate in the diving competition. However, the results during training were not very satisfactory, and the lion could not figure out why. The lion could not understand why the results were so bad as he had chosen the strongest and most fearsome animals. The fox then told the lion "it's because you have selected the wrong kind of animals. You should let the pigeon compete in the flying, let the horse run in the race, and let the dolphin do the diving." The lion decided to follow the fox's suggestions and the animals were victorious in every event.
According to recent military magazines, the long-stalled arms procurement budget, which includes submarines, anti-sub planes and Patriot III missiles will definitely increase Taiwan's defensive capability. Even though these weapons are not the most lethal, they are the most suitable for Taiwan. I believe that the government should not buy the most destructive weapons in order to compete with China. However we should equip ourselves with advanced weapons in order to protect ourselves.
If the lawmakers think the arms budget is too expensive and the weapons are not suitable, do they have a better list for Taiwan? The opposition party has been rejecting the arms budget for the sake of opposition, but the only way to solve the problem is to start discussing the procurement.
Chiu Yen-Lung
Miaoli
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