Taiwan's armed forces capable of deterring China: Minister

[Krueger]

2013/10/02

Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) Minister of National Defense Yen Ming said Wednesday that while China continues its military build-up, Taiwan is building a leaner and meaner military that can serve as a credible deterrent to China.

Yen made the remarks in his first administrative report to the Legislative Yuan since he took office in early August.

During the session, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying said a Chinese military report indicated that China had over 7,000 armored vehicles in 2012 and the number has increased to 15,400 in 2013.

Meanwhile, China's Navy now has more than 600 airplanes, while its Air Force has 3,800 compared with 2,900 in 2012, Chiu said.

He said China's growing military strength could increasingly affect Taiwan. Meanwhile, little progress has been made in Taiwan's plan to shift from military conscription to an all-volunteer service, Chiu said.

Taiwan's military power is still far less than China's, Chiu said, questioning the ROC armed forces' ability to safeguard the security of the country under such circumstances.

In response, Yen said the rise of China's military is a fact, but Taiwan is building a force with the ability to cope with hostile situations. Taiwan aims to create a force that is small but elite, small but skillful, small but strong, and has the capability of deterring any use of force by China against Taiwan, he said.

Meanwhile, ruling Kuomintang Legislator Wu Yu-jen expressed concern over Taiwan's delay in establishing an all-volunteer military.

Yen said in response that because recruitment has fallen short of expectations, the launch date of the all-volunteer service must be postponed to 2016.

(By Claudia Liu and Y.L. Kao)

Taiwan's armed forces capable of deterring China: minister | Politics | FOCUS TAIWAN - CNA ENGLISH NEWS

 

[That Guy]

Taiwan's armed forces capable of deterring China: Minister

Oh yeah, I totally agree, but for how long? Eventually, China would be able to overwhelm Taiwanese defences and anything short of a full US military involvement will fail to defend Taiwan from Chinese military actions.

 

[GR!FF!N]

Oh yeah, I totally agree, but for how long? Eventually, China would be able to overwhelm Taiwanese defences and anything short of a full US military involvement will fail to defend Taiwan from Chinese military actions.

actually they defended themselves over half of century.so,its not just hoax..even in back 50s,the attack on taiwan was more probable than now.cause now Taiwan has sort of capability to give some bloody nose to China even without USA's military intervention.back then,they didn't have.yes,they don't have a massive Airforce/Army/Navy.but don't you think that around 7 lakh professional soldiers,backed by a good airforce,a capable navy and quite attractive SAM and ABM tech as well as offensive ASCM is enough to guard a small country like Taiwan??Amphibious warfare is never easy,especially against a strong country.China can take Taiwan via diplomacy,but its improbable that they'll use force.

 

[That Guy]

actually they defended themselves over half of century.so,its not just hoax..even in back 50s,the attack on taiwan was more probable than now.cause now Taiwan has sort of capability to give some bloody nose to China even without USA's military intervention.back then,they didn't have.yes,they don't have a massive Airforce/Army/Navy.but don't you think that around 7 lakh professional soldiers,backed by a good airforce,a capable navy and quite attractive SAM and ABM tech as well as offensive ASCM is enough to guard a small country like Taiwan??Amphibious warfare is never easy,especially against a strong country.China can take Taiwan via diplomacy,but its improbable that they'll use force.

China didn't have the capabilities to attack Taiwan back then, not to mention that the US had given massive military assistance to Taiwan. They do now, and Taiwan doesn't have the tech advantages that it use to, hell, it doesn't even have the diplomatic leverage that it used to have with the US.

I doubt that China will invade Taiwan, but this is a theoretical situation we're discussing.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

These KMT and DPP guys are a joke, Taiwan now lives under the mercy of China.

China has capability to bomb Taiwan back to stone age just in few days if she really wants to.

China doesn't need to use the military action, an economic warfare should be enough to cripple the Taiwanese economy. They enjoy a yearly 100 billion USD surplus thanks to the trade with us.

 

[MeshFree]

Yen made the remarks in his first administrative report to the Legislative Yuan since he took office in early August.

During the session, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying said a Chinese military report indicated that China had over 7,000 armored vehicles in 2012 and the number has increased to 15,400 in 2013.

They must be mad...Just one year the number is doubled. Do they just say whatever they like with out any investigation?

 

[visom]

Oh yeah, I totally agree, but for how long? Eventually, China would be able to overwhelm Taiwanese defences and anything short of a full US military involvement will fail to defend Taiwan from Chinese military actions.

The point isn't to make Taiwan win a war against China; that's just impossible due to China's sheer population, natural resources and spending power. The point is to make war too expensive for China so they would be less motivated to try anything against Taiwan.

 

[bolo]

"Taiwan aims to create a force that is small but elite, small but skillful, small but strong, and has the capability of deterring any use of force by China against Taiwan, he said."

If he had 1.3 billion people, he won't be saying this. I know having superior technology is one of the key component for a better military, but history have shown time and time again, having a huge army with good weapons, high morale and good training is better than having a smaller army with better weapons.

I would take a 4 million men army over 300,000 men army anyday.

 

[That Guy]

The point isn't to make Taiwan win a war against China; that's just impossible due to China's sheer population, natural resources and spending power. The point is to make war too expensive for China so they would be less motivated to try anything against Taiwan.

the problem with that is China has over 3 trillion dollars to play around with, and a war with Taiwan would be over with quite quickly. All Taiwan has to do is stall, but they neither have the military capability nor the manpower and money to stall long enough for China to reconsider; In fact, trying to stall might just annoy China enough to go all out and end the war quickly.

But again, we are only talking about a hypothetical situation. In reality, nothing goes according to plan.

"Taiwan aims to create a force that is small but elite, small but skillful, small but strong, and has the capability of deterring any use of force by China against Taiwan, he said."

If he had 1.3 billion people, he won't be saying this. I know having superior technology is one of the key component for a better military, but history have shown time and time again, having a huge army with good weapons, high morale and good training is better than having a smaller army with better weapons.

I would take a 4 million men army over 300,000 men army anyday.

As the Russians say "You don't have to be good, you just have to be good enough".

 

[bolo]

The point isn't to make Taiwan win a war against China; that's just impossible due to China's sheer population, natural resources and spending power. The point is to make war too expensive for China so they would be less motivated to try anything against Taiwan.

Should Taiwan declare independence, the Chinese leadership will not care about the cost as sovereignty of a nation ranks over cost and the economy anyday. Sha Zukang said something along this line in 2006.

 

[visom]

the problem with that is China has over 3 trillion dollars to play around with, and a war with Taiwan would be over with quite quickly. All Taiwan has to do is stall, but they neither have the military capability nor the manpower and money to stall long enough for China to reconsider; In fact, trying to stall might just annoy China enough to go all out and end the war quickly.

But again, we are only talking about a hypothetical situation. In reality, nothing goes according to plan.



As the Russians say "You don't have to be good, you just have to be good enough".

I don't know if China would try to end the war quickly. When you say ending a war quickly, I can only assume by using more destructive weapons but I doubt that'll work since what's the point of retaking a country only to destroy the country and kill so many of its people.

"Taiwan aims to create a force that is small but elite, small but skillful, small but strong, and has the capability of deterring any use of force by China against Taiwan, he said."

If he had 1.3 billion people, he won't be saying this. I know having superior technology is one of the key component for a better military, but history have shown time and time again, having a huge army with good weapons, high morale and good training is better than having a smaller army with better weapons.

I would take a 4 million men army over 300,000 men army anyday.

I have to agree, quantity is a quality of its own. It's dangerous overconfidence to think your 300,000 men, even if well armed, can stand against 4 million.

 

[That Guy]

I don't know if China would try to end the war quickly. When you say ending a war quickly, I can only assume by using more destructive weapons but I doubt that'll work since what's the point of retaking a country only to destroy the country and kill so many of its people.

I have to agree, quantity is a quality of its own. It's dangerous overconfidence to think your 300,000 men, even if well armed, can stand against 4 million.

There is more than one way to do that, Russia did this in Georgia. If they can suppress Taiwanese air defence systems and cripple Taiwan's air force, then they'll face little real resistance that they can't handle. China is developing this capability with it's stealth fighters and satellite guided missiles. The land invasion shouldn't be as big of a problem if China can get air superiority.

I would also like to add that China has a huge reason to end this; this reason includes (but not limited to) a US intervention (no matter how limited) and international diplomatic pressure.

 

[William Hung]

China is not going to attack Taiwan.

Taiwan is just a high class escort that likes to run to rich and prestigious men and spread her legs. Right now, most Taiwanese people (like our Japanese liberator) see the white man as having the most wealth and prestige. When China becomes even more wealthier and their people no longer have the image of rural countryside bumpkins, Taiwan will run into the arms of China. The only missiles getting launched by China is the meaty type...Dong-long12" something.

 

[Fsjal]

China is only superior over Taiwan in numbers of soldiers and firepower. In terms of technology, China and Taiwan are equal, although it looks like China is going ahead.

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan is just a wet dream for the war mongers in Washington DC.

 

[HongWu]

We lack the amphibious lift ability to crush Taiwan within two or three days right now. That situation will completely reverse by 2020 when massive numbers of LHD's enter service. It's just a matter of time before the DPP is elected to power and then it's showtime for the PLA.