The recent lively debate over President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "offshore full-scale engagement" defense strategy scaled new heights of intensity as two separate press conferences were held at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
Major General Chen Shih-yu (程士瑜), assistant deputy chief of the general staff for operations, speaking at one of the hearings, said that the military had had no idea that the term "offshore full-scale engagement" would cause such a stir when it was first delivered in a public speech by President Chen on June 16 at the 76th anniversary of the army academy.
The general lamented the degree of controversy surrounding the term, which he said he had inserted into the president's speech.
"I was the one who drafted the speech. I admit that I had in mind Chen's defense platform for the presidential election as I was drafting [the speech]. His platform had referred to `offshore full-scale engagement' and `surgical strikes,'" General Chen said.
"I did not expect to hear such a fuss about the term. I wasn't thinking of projecting troops into China when I coined the phrase, I was merely referring to a line of defensive thinking which is based on our actual combat capabilities," he said.
"Our air force and navy do have the ability to engage the enemy in full-scale combat in the air and at sea. We can maintain superiority over the enemy until 2005," he said.
Citing last year's Hangkuang No. 15 exercise as an example of how the president's defense strategy is compatible with thinking on rearmament in the military, the general said: "The armed forces had already understood by that time the advantages of `offshore engagement.' In the exercise, we simulated a full-scale attack by China. We found that damage to our air force and navy would be considerably lessened if we could hold out against the invaders [the Chinese] in engagements off Taiwan proper."
Alex Kao (高雄柏), a military analyst and writer, was one of the more robust opponents of the strategy yesterday. He pulled no punches in his criticism of the concept at the same press conference as General Chen.
"We must recognize that the `offshore full-scale engagement' concept was nothing more than a part of Chen's platform. It was devised only for the purpose of publicity during the election. From a military perspective, it is simply nonsense," Kao said.
However, at the other public hearing, held at the same time, DPP lawmakers and several renowned military analysts argued forcefully for Chen's strategy.
DPP lawmaker Parris Chang (張旭成), a long-standing member of the legislature's Defense Committee, said that a strong offense is the best defense and that only with sufficient combat strength to defeat the enemy could any country negotiate peace terms with an enemy.
Su Chin-chiang (蘇進強), a military analyst at Nanhua University, said that China would undoubtedly seek to obtain control of the air and the sea in its invasion of Taiwan and that if Taiwan found itself only capable of staging a decisive battle with China on Taiwanese territory, the result could be quite devastating.
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