Minister of National Defense Tang Fei (
"The PRC's ballistic missile threat is the very reason why the ROC has to establish its own missile defense capability," Tang said.
"Development and proliferation of ballistic missiles have cast a shadow of war over the region, from the Korean Peninsula, to Japan, to Taiwan, and South Asia," he said.
The statements were part of a speech Tang delivered at the opening ceremony of a conference in Taipei on Asian-Pacific security issues.
Michael Y.M. Kau (高-^-Z), professor of political science at Brown University in the US, presented at a panel discussion what he said was a "provocative" perspective of China's missile build-up.
"There has been little criticism in the international community of China's missile build-up in recent years," he said. "It seems that most countries think it natural for China, a big country as well as a nuclear power, to follow through with the development."
Taiwan should develop a "TMD of some sort of system, either through cooperation with allies or with help from allies," he said.
"If the US commitment to Taiwan on TMD is not firm, Taiwan will move toward a more aggressive or active defense to develop offensive weapons like cruise missiles or other types of attack missiles," Kau said.
"We have already developed weapons of the category such as Sky Bow and Sky Horse missiles," he said. "Development of these missiles is in the final phases. The question now is whether we can get guidance systems for the missiles."
"Taiwan has only two choices to make in the face of military threats from China," Kau said. "It must either choose to get protection from friendly countries or to move in the direction of an aggressive defense."
But Taiwan developing a stronger offensive missile arsenal risks triggering an unpredictable arms race across the Strait, Kau said.
Frank Umbach, senior research fellow at the Research Institute of the German Society, also cautioned against a potential arms race in Northeast Asia.
"For South Korea and Taiwan, the only military alternative aside from TMD, excluding a nuclear option, is a long-range missile build-up. That, however, might incite a new arms race in an already complex military-strategic environment in Northeast Asia," Umbach said.
"Furthermore, [the arms race] would undermine regional stability by creating additional incentives for preventive or preemptive military strike options on both sides of the Korean Peninsula or the Taiwan Strait," he said.
Brad Roberts, of the US-based Institute for Defense Analyses, responded to Kau's recommendations for an offensive defense against China's military threats by saying that such an initiative might be suspected to be linked to the development of nuclear weapons.
"The offensive missiles which Taiwan is to develop might be equipped with nuclear warheads. No matter how hard the government explains this is not the case, the suspicion will be there," Brad said.
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