China has been upgrading its major weapons systems and building up the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as part of its goal to have a strong enough fighting force to attack Taiwan by 2020, according to the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) 2015 National Defense Report released yesterday.
Despite improved relations and increased links between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in recent years, the Chinese government still prepares for a cross-strait conflict and is enhancing the PLA’s ability to conduct large-scale warfare and to deter foreign forces from intervening in any invasion, the biennal report said.
“China believes foreign interference would be its biggest concern if it attacks Taiwan,” the report said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Taiwan’s armed forces would continue to bolster their defense capabilities and naval patrol missions to assert the nation’s sovereignty over the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) and Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China Sea, both cited as potential conflict areas, the report said.
A robust military strength is needed in these South China Sea islands to buttress nation’s territorial sovereignty and preserve its maritime rights and interests, along with maintaining freedom of navigation for transit passage in international waters, it said.
China’s annual military budget has been growing by double-digit rates over the past decade, focusing on naval and air forces to project Chinese military power in the region, the report said.
Due to China’s rapid weapons build-up and modernization of its combat capability, the cross-strait military imbalance is widening, causing concern in neighboring countries, the report said.
China has dramatically upgraded its early warning system, command and control operation, battleground reconnaissance, airplane and vessel navigation, communications encryption and precise striking capability, it said.
The PLA has also sped up the army’s mechanization, upgraded its information technology and live fire drills, strengthened airborne transportation and strategic research and development, and now has a “triphibious” landing combat capability that could “seize the outlying islands” of Taiwan, the report said.
The report also questioned China’s reported military spending, which it said was significantly understated.
Also covered in the report is the government’s efforts to develop an all-volunteer military composed mainly of career professionals.
To help raise public awareness of the government efforts to maintain national security, the report’s release was accompanied by a comic book version and a board game for youngsters, ministry spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said.
Additional reporting by CNA and AFP
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS