Taiwan should develop its own missile defense capability and offensive forces to forestall any invasion from China, a former Pentagon official said.
"The defense of Taiwan should not begin with the invasion of Taiwan at the beaches," Peter Brookes, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
"I think that Taiwan should consider having offensive forces to fight in the Taiwan Strait," he said.
Brookes suggested that Taiwan improve its air and naval forces so that they can sink Chinese ships approaching Taiwan and mount pre-emptive strikes on Chinese ports and air bases where supplies and troops for any invasion would be preparing.
A key element of such a defense should be F-16 fighter jets equipped with anti-ship weapons, Brookes said, weapons the military does not have at present.
By using such weapons to attack warships and transport ships in the Strait, Taiwan could "interrupt the scope and pace of the invasion force," he said.
"Cobra helicopters cruising the waters could also take out landing craft and destroy transport ships. Up to this point, Taiwan's air force has not had an anti-surface ship mission at all," he said.
But Brookes noted that the Kidd-class destroyers and diesel submarines that US President George W. Bush agreed to sell to Taipei would have deterrent anti-ship and anti-aircraft capabilities.
With China increasing the number of missiles targeting Taiwan across the Strait, Taipei should also alter its weapons development and warfare strategy, said Brooks, who is now director of the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center.
"In the future, the dynamic balance is going to shift in the favor of the PRC," he said.
"I think Taiwan has to move forward on an autonomous missile defense," Brookes said.
"They have this threat on the other side and I think they have to maintain their relative capability. Taiwan has to look across the Strait and see where China is developing its forces and insure that they maintain their security," he said.
He also joined the chorus of voices in Washington that have criticized Taipei's lack of progress in funding the purchase of arms.
"I think Taiwan has to be serious about their own defense, and they have to spend the requisite amount of money to meet their national security needs," he said. "Taiwan has to look at their new security environment because of the tremendous increases in capability of the PLA.
"China has not forsworn the use of force and Taiwan has to have the forces to insure that they have a deterrent posture against the PRC," Brookes said. "Weakness invites provocation."
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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