Taiwan’s military will be able to withstand a Chinese attack for one month, Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) told the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday.
Yen was responding to a question from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) about how well the military would be able to withstand a full-scale attack by China without help from the US.
Prompted by a pessimistic article written by University of Chicago political science professor John Mearsheimer, titled “Say Goodbye to Taiwan,” Hsueh asked Yen whether the military has built up an adequate defense capability over the years.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Before Yen could answer, a military officer standing next to him told the minister “about 21 to 28 days” — a comment that was picked up by the legislature’s video-on-demand system.
However, Yen told Hsueh that the military could withstand an assault for “at least one month.”
“How great you are,” Hsueh responded.
Hsueh said that the most common publicly stated estimate about the length of Taiwanese resistance to a Chinese attack until US help arrives was two weeks — made when Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) and Lee Jye (李傑) were defense ministers during the former DPP administration.
Tang served from 2002 to 2004 and Lee from 2004 to 2007.
Pressed by Hsueh to specify the improvements the military has made since the DPP administration, Yen said that the estimate that the military was able to deal with China in an event of war “for 30 days” was based on conclusions drawn from various war games.
Yen was also asked by several lawmakers about how the ministry would respond to China’s announcement that it would increase its military spending this year by 12.2 percent to 808.23 billion yuan (US$131 billion), twice the size of Taiwan’s entire annual government budget.
Taiwan is not competing with China in an arms race, but has been developing a military force with “effective deterrence, resolute defense” capabilities and forged ahead with a variety of asymmetrical instruments of power, such as information and electronic warfare capabilities, Yen said.
The military has the ability to defend the country and the people, he said.
“Any change in whatever kind of scenario [you can think of] will not endanger people’s lives or the property,” Yen added.
The defense ministry is planning to submit a formal request to the US for assistance in acquiring submarines because “submarines are of great importance in building up effective military deterrence,” he said.
The government would continue its efforts to purchase submarines from the US even as it continues talks with Washington about technology transfers to help Taiwan jumpstart its own sub program.
“The initial response [to the technology transfer request] has been positive. They will assist us in meeting our goal,” Yen said in response to questions from DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).
He brushed off lawmakers’ concerns about the move from military conscription to an all-volunteer force given the low recruitment numbers, saying that the military would stick to plans to downsize to between 170,000 and 190,000 personnel from the current 215,000 over a five-year period beginning next year.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said he learned from military sources that the planned cuts were not based on an assessment of the nation’s defense needs because the assessment will not be finished until the end of this year.
Yen denied this, saying that the ministry had gone through all the necessary procedures to calculate the force size required to defend the country before it decided to downsize troop numbers.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS