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Taiwan must have ¡¥strike back¡¦
capability: US report
By Nadia Tsao / Staff Reporter in Washington
The newly manufactured Hsiung
Feng (¡§Brave Wind¡¨) III anti-ship missile is displayed at this year¡¦s Taipei
Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in Taipei on August 10.
Photo: CNA
Although former premier Tang Fei (ð¸) said
on Aug. 17 that Taiwan¡¦s indigenous Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile would be
like a mosquito¡¦s bite on an elephant, a new report by a US think tank argues
that Taiwan must have ¡§some means of hitting back against Chinese military
targets.¡¨
¡§The ability to hit back at Chinese military targets may not have profound
operational effects, but when an inferior force takes on a superior one, the
ability to strike back has a nontrivial strategic and psychological impact on an
attacker,¡¨ said the 38-page Asian Alliances in the 21st Century report, released
on Tuesday by the Washington-based think tank Project 2049 Institute.
The report states that US allies in the Asia-Pacific region should closely
observe China¡¦s strategies against Taiwan because if Beijing believes its
¡§unrelenting intimidation of Taiwan has worked,¡¨ then it ¡§may attempt the same
strategy to quiet other ¡¥troublemakers¡¦ in the region.¡¨
The report added that US allies in the Asia-Pacific should adjust their national
defense strategies in accordance with Beijing¡¦s tactics against Taiwan.
¡§In the event that Taiwan falls into China¡¦s hands, Asia could be cut in half,
the US command of the Pacific would be further imperiled, the South China Sea
could become a Chinese lake, and Japan would lose strategic depth,¡¨ the report
said.
¡§China has built up the wherewithal [of] ... air and missile campaigns and
maritime blockades [and] is developing capabilities to conduct an air and sea
denial strategy against forward-deployed US and Japanese forces, [as] in terms
of its ¡¥command of the commons strategy,¡¦ the United States is most vulnerable
to threats to its command of space and cyberspace,¡¨ it said.
¡§Taiwan obviously needs a lethal air force as well. F-16C/Ds can ride out the
initial missile barrage in underground bunkers and then conduct air-to-air and
maritime strike missions enabled by Taiwan¡¦s own Control, Communications,
Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) and a common
operating picture provided by the allies,¡¨ it said.
¡§If US administrations are really concerned about the survivability of aircraft
in Taiwan, given the threat environment, the United States should consider
selling Taiwan vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft or
help speed up Taipei¡¦s missile programs,¡¨ it said.
¡§If US and Japanese conventional forces make it clear that they are ready to
interpose themselves between Chinese forces and Taiwan through combat air
patrols, a ground presence on the island, and counter-blockade operations, then
the Chinese may think twice about striking the island in the first place,¡¨ the
report said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
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