The Ministry of National Defense yesterday unveiled its biennial white paper on national defense, outlining doctrinal changes that emphasize asymmetric warfare and layered defense.
The 2017 National Defense Report reiterates the military’s commitment to an all-volunteer force and the indigenous development of military aircraft and warships.
“We are cognizant that our nation cannot compare with the defense budget and military development in China, whose military’s pace of growth and strength have far exceeded expectations,” Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said in the report.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
“Consequently, we must employ vision and foresight in our adjustment of defense concepts and overall armament development,” he said.
China has acquired the ability to execute long-range sea and air operations, and it is pushing the reach of its force projection to the areas west of the second island chain, the report said.
The second island chain refers to Japan’s Bonin Islands and Volcano Islands, and the US’ Mariana Islands.
Those developments necessitate a change in the nation’s strategy from “strong defense and effective deterrence” — which had been in effect since 2009 — to “strong defense and layered deterrence,” the report said.
Strong defense refers to in-depth defense, improving combat sustainability, protecting command and control infrastructure from cyberthreats, and developing strategic endurance, it said.
Layered deterrence involves using “innovative and asymmetrical warfare” that confronts the enemy with multiple dilemmas to achieve deterrence, it said.
The overall military strategy in a defensive war is to achieve “force preservation, win decisive battles in littoral waters and annihilate the enemy on the beachhead,” the report said.
It is desirable for the military to acquire precision-guided munitions, electronic countermeasures, guided anti-tank missiles, man-portable air defense systems, fast multiple-role warships, uncrewed aerial vehicles and naval minelaying capabilities, among others, the report said.
The report listed Chinese air and sea drills conducted between Aug. 18 last year and Dec. 11, including 23 air patrols and two aircraft carrier exercises in proximity to Taiwan’s territorial waters or air defense identification zone.
The ministry will stop giving news briefings on ongoing Chinese military exercises near Taiwan, ministry spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) told a news conference in Taipei.
“When Chinese aircraft and ships are not posing any more threat to us than usual, we see no need to help them with their propaganda,” he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat