The Chinese navy has commissioned three new amphibious transport docks over the past few years that could improve Beijing’s ability to seize and hold Taiwan’s outlying islands.
According to a report to be unveiled by the US House Armed Services Committee yesterday, each of the docks can carry a mix of air-cushion landing craft, amphibious armored vehicles, helicopters and marines.
Nevertheless, the report says that “at this time” China does not appear to be pursuing the amphibious capabilities necessary to conduct a large-scale invasion of Taiwan.
The docks, described as “large amphibious ships,” are part of a general expansion by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy) detailed in the China Economic and Security Review Commission’s recently completed annual report to the US Congress.
A full committee hearing led by representatives Randy Forbes and Colleen Hanabusa is to consider the report, its findings, conclusions and its recommendations.
A draft copy of the report has been the subject of various stories carried by the Taipei Times over the past week.
The report says that the PLA Navy has about 75 major surface combatants, 85 missile patrol boats and 60 conventional and nuclear submarines.
“These units are available for a range of missions — such as enforcing a blockade of Taiwan,” the report says.
“As China’s naval modernization continues, an increasing percentage of these ships and submarines will feature advanced weaponry,” it says.
“In contrast, the Taiwan Navy has 26 major surface combatants, 45 missile patrol boats and two operational submarines,” it adds.
The report says that Taiwan began work on a prototype of a new class of catamaran-style missile corvette in November last year and plans to build up to 11 of them by next year.
“The new ship will carry long-range antiship cruise missiles and feature better sea-keeping ability, range and endurance compared with Taiwan’s current patrol fleet,” the report says.
“In a potential conflict with China, the corvette will enhance the lethality and survivability of Taiwan’s anti-surface force,” it says.
In addition, the report says, Taiwan has deployed its long-delayed Ray Ting (RT)-2000 multiple-launch rocket system.
“In a potential Chinese invasion, the RT-2000 will provide Taiwan with quick-fire capability against Chinese amphibious ships as they cross the Taiwan Strait,” the report says.
“With a range of up to 25 miles [40.2km] and a wheeled chassis allowing for easy maneuverability, the RT-2000 is a significant improvement over its predecessor, the Kung Feng V1,” the report adds.
The Armed Services Committee will hear that Taiwan’s defense spending likely “will remain stagnant” through at least the end of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term in office in 2016.
“President Ma has little incentive to increase the defense budget, since improved cross-strait relations have reduced public perceptions of the China threat in attempts to recover from the global financial crisis,” the report says.
“US officials and outside observers suggest that if this trend continues, then the Taiwan military may struggle to maintain a credible deterrent capability,” it adds.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
RSS