Taiwan’s latest national defense report highlights an increasing military threat from China, saying that Beijing plans to boost its combat capabilities to the point at which it could mount a full cross-strait attack.
China’s combat capabilities are expected to reach that level in 2020, according to the 12th National Defense Report released by the Ministry of National Defense at a press conference yesterday.
The report said China has been developing and deploying various types of new high-end weapons, as well as advanced cyberattack and defense technologies.
China also plans to ramp up its combat capabilities to the level where it could launch an all-out attack on Taiwan, including on outlying islands, the report said.
“Combined operations” remain the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s basic combat model and its military modernization is aimed at developing a credible deterrent to any third-party intervention in a possible conflict with Taiwan, the report said.
For example, China’s deployment of the Dong Feng 21D anti-ship ballistic missile, the so-called “aircraft carrier-killer,” is aimed at hitting US aircraft carriers, said Cheng Yun-peng (成雲鵬), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Strategic Planning.
Cheng said that the 2020 timeframe is a rough estimate, but that China was making major advances in its arsenal.
In the face of the military imbalance skewed in China’s favor, Taiwan’s military is adhering to a concept of innovative, asymmetric warfare, in line with national defense policies, Cheng said at the news conference.
In an effort to maintain adequate self-defense capabilities, Taiwan is developing its own weapons and is also seeking to purchase arms from other countries, he added.
Currently, Taiwan’s indigenous Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles — developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology — have the ability to counter the threat of Chinese amphibious and aircraft carrier attacks, Cheng said.
In terms of jet fighters, Taiwan needs more advanced aircraft than its existing fleet of F-16A/Bs, which are currently being upgraded with the help of the US, Cheng said.
Military analysts say that China has at least 1,600 ballistic missiles aimed across the Taiwan Strait.
Despite the potential military threat, Taiwan is cutting its own defense spending, with the number of active-duty soldiers due to be reduced to 215,000 next year from the current 240,000.
The report also covered other issues, such as the military’s 13 proposed reforms, which focus on ensuring human rights, making sure service members have a channel for filing complaints and reporting abuses, and reviewing disciplinary confinement regulations.
The reform drive is also meant to improve administrative procedures for disciplinary confinement and the facilities that military personnel are confined in, as well as establishing reasonable punitive exercises for detainees, the report said.
The focus on a complaint mechanism and confinement was a direct response to the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘), who died in July while serving his mandatory military service due to heat exhaustion allegedly caused by intensive training administered while in detention.
The incident sparked a public outcry, prompted the resignation of then-minister of defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) and led the government to pass legislation to turn over military trials to civilian courts during peacetime.
Additional reporting by AFP
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS