Report: Sino Military Build Up Focused on Deterring U.S.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) released a report on Monday stating that China’s stunning military build-up is focused first and formost on detering a U.S. military response to a war with Taiwan.
From AFP…
Beijing is focusing on developing long-range missiles “to strike at American bases and battle carrier groups stationed in the Asia-Pacific… so as to block the United States from coming to the rescue of Taiwan should war break out in the Taiwan Strait,” the ministry said in a report released Monday.
“Although the Chinese communists have claimed they would like to solve the Taiwan issues in a peaceful manner, they have asked their forces to step up preparation for military struggles against Taiwan,” the report said.
China believes that “if it employs military actions against Taiwan, foreign intervention would be its greatest concern, with the United States being the most significant foreign power,” it added.
While the United States has adopted Beijing’s ‘one-China’ policy, it has also pledged to protect Taiwan and has sold the island nation a series of weapon systems to help thwart a first-wave attack.
In April 2007, we posted (see “Simulation Shows Taiwan Wins First Round with China“) on a Taiwan defense simulation which cited “that the island could initially repel an invasion [from China]. However, contradictory evidence is emerging that China’s growing military strength, coupled with Taiwan’s inability to appropriately bolster and fund its own forces, may be actually turning the advantage in a potential Taiwan-China standoff toward Beijing’s favor.”
In an editorial highlighting misguided priorities in U.S. defense spending, the Los Angeles Times does not view China’s threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty as immediate. LAT attempts to answer the question of how likely it is that China will actually invade Taiwan?
So how likely is that? In the short run, not very. Taiwan is a flash point, and the possibility of military conflict with China can never be ruled out. But the danger has decreased markedly this year with the landslide victory of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party, which ran on a platform of improving strained ties with the mainland.
While the LAT is correct that a spike in Chinese aggression toward Taiwan will most likely not happen in the short-run, particularly this year, the threat is real and it is something that both sides are preparing for.
