The nation’s armed forces can hold the line against China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) yesterday told the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
During a question-and-answer session, Yen was asked to evaluate the comparative military capabilities of Taiwan and China, three days after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told CNN that Taiwan was “capable of holding off any first waves of attacks” by China.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) asked what the military’s capabilities were to respond to a PLA “first strike,” and whether it had the ability to mount a pre-emptive strike against China.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The nation’s two-staged military doctrine is to enact force protection, followed by the deployment of combat power, Yen told Lo.
“For force protection, we must be capable of absorbing the first strike, so critical and dependable forces are mechanized, and they will not stay still for the enemy to hit,” he said. “For deploying combat power, we will use counterattacks and early suppression of the enemy, as well as other actions.”
“As for pre-emptive capabilities, we possess them, but we are not at liberty to discuss them,” he said.
However, he added that those capabilities are for creating a multi-layered deterrence, not for launching first strikes.
When DPP Legislator Wu Kun-yuh (吳焜裕) asked Yen to elaborate on the national military doctrine, the minister said Taiwan was not engaged in an arms race with China and the military relies on quality to overcome quantity.
To augment force protection, the ministry is working with local governments to mobilize assets necessary to protect military installations against Chinese guided missiles, in conjunction with concealment and mobility measures, he said.
The armed forces would deploy mobile and decisive weapons systems to fight at the place and time of its choosing, with an emphasis on using the terrain to maximize asymmetric warfare capabilities in the counter-air, counter-naval and counter-amphibious operational phases of such a war, Yen said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) asked Yen to gauge the time the military could hold out against the PLA, and what the armed forces would do if war broke out as the result of political conflict between independence and unification factions.
While the military does not quantify defensive time frames for doctrinal reasons, “we have full confidence and capability to stay on top of regional developments and defend our homeland,” Yen said.
The military’s core value is its constitutional duty to defend the Republic of China and the citizens residing within its domain, he said.
The US is certain to intervene if regional security developments threaten its national interests and Japan could possibly be involved, he said, adding that the ministry could not speak for the intentions of the Philippines.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS