Decades of Chinese military modernization has eroded many of Taiwan’s historical advantages in deterring aggression from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the US Department of Defense said in an annual report on Tuesday to the US Congress on military and security developments involving China.
Those advantages include the Taiwanese military’s technological superiority, the geographic advantages of island defense and the PLA’s inability to project sufficient power across the Taiwan Strait, the report said.
“Although Taiwan is taking important steps to build its war reserve stocks, grow its defense industrial base, improve joint operations and crisis response capabilities, and strengthen its officer and non-commissioned officer corps, these improvements only partially address Taiwan’s declining defensive advantages,” the report said.
Taiwan plans to transition to an all-volunteer military force by 2019, but the transition has slowed due to “severe difficulties” in recruiting enough personnel, the report added.
China’s military budget grew at an average of 8.5 percent per year from 2007 to last year and has grown to roughly 14 times that of Taiwan’s military budget, which remains at about 2 percent of GDP, the report said.
The PLA is capable of accomplishing various amphibious operations short of a full-scale invasion of Taiwan, the report said, adding that China could invade Taiwan’s territories in the South China Sea, such as the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) or Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), or medium-sized islands such as Kinmen or Matsu.
However, such military operations would involve “significant, and possibly prohibitive, political risk, because it could galvanize pro-independence sentiment on Taiwan and generate international opposition,” the report said.
In the report, the department reiterated that the US maintains its “one China” policy based on the Three Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act.
“The United States opposes any unilateral change to the ‘status quo’ in the Taiwan Strait by either side and does not support Taiwan independence,” the report said.
Meanwhile, China has continued shore-based infrastructure construction in the South China Sea, the report said.
As of late last year, China was constructing 24 fighter hangars, fixed weapons positions, barracks, administration buildings and communication facilities at three outposts — Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑島), Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) and Subi Reef (Jhubi Reef, 渚碧礁), it added.
“Once all these facilities are complete, China will have the capacity to house up to three regiments of fighters in the Spratly Islands [Nansha Islands, 南沙群島],” the report said.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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